OFC 2019, being held March 5-7 at the San Diego Convention Center, bills itself as "the single-most important annual event in optical communications and networking, where companies from around the world converge to unveil products and solutions at all levels of the infrastructure that impact the network."
More than 50 exhibitors have already made strategic announcements in OFC’s First News program (available exclusively to media/analysts). Additional exhibitor news announcements are posted to the OFC Newsroom. According to Jimmy Yu, vice president of industry researcher Dell’Oro Group, “Based on the news releases so far, this year’s OFC will likely be focused on a few key areas in optics: 400 Gbps in data center, disaggregated WDM systems, and components to enable 600+ Gbps coherent WDM.”
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This year's exhibiting companies will use OFC to unveil innovations in network equipment and software, active and passive components, test and manufacturing equipment, data center/IT products and cable and fiber. Key exhibitors include: II-VI, Photonics, AFL, Ciena, Cisco Systems, Corning, EXFO, Infinera, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Lumentum, Molex, Nokia, Maxim Integrated, Santec USA, SM-Optics, ThorLabs and VPIphotonics. Notably, of the event's 700 exhibitors, more than 130 have locations in San Diego, in the surrounding areas and throughout California. Exhibitors with a local San Diego presence include: Roshmere Inc., Kyocera International, Inc., Presidio Components, Inc., Intraratio and AT&T.
On this year's OFC mainstage, Dave Temkin, VP of Networks, Netflix, USA and Genia Wilbourn, VP - Network & Technology, Wireline Global Operations, Verizon Communications, USA, will keynote show floor sessions for the event's Data Center Summit and Network Operator Summit programs. Further, three theaters on OFC’s show floor will feature presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations. These sessions are designed to provide insight into hot topics and market trends, the state of the industry and emerging technologies. Several industry experts from the San Diego area, including the University of California San Diego and Oracle will present the latest developments on optical switching for data centers and integrated photonics.
Additionally, several live multivendor interoperability demonstrations will be located throughout the exhibit floor from participants including: Coherent Transceiver Interoperability, Ethernet Alliance, OIF and Open ROADM MSA SDN. Technologies from approximately 40 companies will be featured in the demos, including those for: 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), 25GbE, 50GbE, 100GbE, 400GbE; Open Source Open ROADM SDN Controller; pluggable CFP2-ACO and CFP2-DCO modules; and Common Electrical I/O (CEI)-112G, FlexE (Flex Ethernet) and 400ZR protocols.
OFC will also host the Suzanne R. Nagel Lounge, featuring a program of 25 half hour talks from industry leaders on various career topics. A complete listing of the program's special events can be found here.
The 5 most anticipated topics at OFC 2018, optical communications expo
