OFC 2018, the largest global conference and exposition in
optical communications and networking, wrapped up an impressive and
stimulating week in San Diego, CA, showcasing the latest
innovations in the field, with more than 15,500 attendees, 700+
exhibitors from 65 countries, and over 850 peer reviewed technical
sessions.
The only global event where attendees witness the innovation
behind the technology that powers communications today, OFC has
been on a steep growth trajectory over the last three years,
increasing in overall square footage by 44% and experiencing a 21%
growth in exhibitors and attendees.
“Optical advancements in 5G, next-gen optical transport,
multi-layer optical internetworking, open transport
hardware/software and disaggregation led many discussions this week
during OFC–in ground-breaking research presented, technical
workshops, product launches and in the plenary addresses from
industry visionaries,” said Martin Birk, Lead Member of Technical
Staff, AT&T Labs, USA, and a General Chair of OFC 2018. “OFC is
the industry’s stage to present, debate, launch and demonstrate the
innovations driving applications including AI and connected
vehicles that are on the cusp of changing the world in which we
live.”
Technical sessions addressed the very latest groundbreaking
optical innovations, data-center connectivity, 5G-oriented optical
networking, quantum communication and cloud computing, and the
application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in
optical networks.
Innovations in Optics
The foremost researchers presented industry leading technical
peer-reviewed papers, including:
The Long and the Short of Transmission
Performance Evaluation - Comparing performance measurement
techniques of multiplexed signal transmissions reveals channel
correlation driven differences that depend on distance and become
indistinguishable at transoceanic-scale transmission lengths. By
testing transmitter measurement schemes, engineers from TE SubCom,
New Jersey, USA, demonstrated that differences between performance
measurements depends on the transmission distance and choice of DSP
used.
IBM Reveals a Novel Energy-saving Optical
Receiver with a new Record of Rapid Power-on/off Time - Based on
complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (COMS) technology, a group
of researchers from IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland, together
with a consortium working under the EU-funded project “ADDAPT,”
have demonstrated a novel optical receiver (RX) that can achieve an
aggregate bandwidth of 160 Gb/s through four optical fibers. This
is not only the fastest data transmission speed to date, but the
newly developed optical receiver also features the link
power-on/off functionality and can wake-up and achieve phase-lock
in eight nanoseconds, the shortest switch time in record.
New Study Compares 400G Optical Transceivers
for Next-Generation Datacenter Networks - To hone in on how
different designs of 400G transceivers would affect device cost and
power consumption, and how these cost differences would eventually
influence the cost of datacenter networks, an international
research team from Greece, Luxemburg and Spain have analyzed and
compared the cost and power consumption of different 400G
transceivers. For the first time, they predicted each transceivers
cost reduction trends over the next five years using a mathematical
model. The researchers further evaluated the cost and power
consumption of constructing and upgrading the datacenter based on
Facebook’s Fabric architecture, using different
transceiver-installation technologies and providing cost-effective
and power-efficient connectivity solutions for different sizes of
datacenters.
Fast, High Capacity Fiber Transmission Gets
Real for Data Centers - A cutting edge, “off-line” signal
transmission mechanism, experimentally demonstrated just a few
years ago, is now on-line as a real-time bi-directional
transmission system. A research team from Nokia reported the
real-time, bi-directional transmission of 78 interleaved, 400
gigabit per second (Gb/s) channels with a 31.2 terabit per second
(Tb/s) fiber capacity.
Exhibit Floor Programming
Communications executives, including global network operators
and thought-leaders, converged during the Market Watch programming
to discuss the latest application topics and business issues in the
field of optical communications. The Network Operator Summit, a one
day program, supplied professionals from equipment manufacturers to
component manufacturers with the inside perspective from service
providers and network operators, as they discussed how their
requirements may impact the future of the industry.
Global Exhibits
More than 700 global organizations, including established global
brands and industry start-ups, used this year’s event to launch and
demonstrate new products and innovations on 350,000 square feet of
exhibit space.
Organizations participating in OFC 2018 include: Arrayed
Fiberoptics Corporation, ATOP Corporation, Cicor Group, Ciena,
Coriant, Corning Incorporated, Cisco Systems, EFFECT Photonics,
Finisar, Fujitsu Optical Components, Global Communication
Semiconductors, Inc.; Huawei Technologies, Infinera, Juniper
Networks, Liverage Technology, Inc., Lumentum, Mellanox
Technologies, Mitsubishi International, Nokia and more.
Technologies on display include network and test equipment, optical
transport systems and optical component, fiber cables and specialty
fiber manufacturers.
Major global companies including ATOP, ColorChip, Huawei and
Xilinx showcased products and solutions in 5G, WDM Transport
Network (WTN), submarine optical fiber and data center
technologies.
About OFC
The Optical Fiber Conference and Exposition (OFC) is the
largest global conference and exposition for optical communications
and networking professionals. For more than 40 years, OFC has drawn
attendees from all corners of the globe to meet and greet, teach
and learn, make connections and move business forward.
OFC includes dynamic business programming, an exposition of more
than 700 companies, and high impact peer-reviewed research that,
combined, showcase the trends and pulse of the entire optical
networking and communications industry. OFC is managed by The
Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the IEEE
Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc), and the IEEE Photonics
Society. OFC 2019 will be held 3 - 7 March, San Diego Convention
Center, California, USA. Follow @OFCConference, learn more OFC
Conference LinkedIn, and watch highlights OFC YouTube.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180315006546/en/
The Optical SocietyRebecca B. Andersen, +1
202-416-1443randersen@osa.orgorThe Optical SocietyJoshua
Miller, +1 202-416-1443jmiller@osa.org