OFC 2014 to be Held March 9-13 in San Francisco

WHAT: 2014 OFC Conference and Exposition

WHEN/WHERE: March 9-13 (Exhibits open March 11 - 13) at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, Calif., USA

DETAILS: As the largest and most comprehensive international event for both the science and business of optical communications, OFC 2014—with thousands of attendees, 550 exhibiting companies (47 percent based outside the U.S.) and more than 800 technical and business presentations—will host the entire scope of optical communications, providing technical programming, exhibits and other activities for all audiences from systems and components manufacturers to service providers, carriers and enterprise.

Featuring:

• Comprehensive technical program, including hundreds of sessions, workshops, tutorials, short courses and paper presentations on the latest optical communications research from more than a dozen topical areas.
• Leading companies in the Exhibit Hall—from network and test equipment vendors to systems and component manufacturers, plus software, fiber cable and specialty fiber manufacturers.
• Three Exhibit Hall theaters of business programming, featuring presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations, including Verizon, Juniper, Google, Sprint, Microsoft, Cisco, Corning, the Ethernet Alliance, Optical Internetworking Forum, and many others.

HIGHLIGHTS: Technical and business programming highlights include:

OFC Plenary Session – Tuesday, March 11, 8 – 10 a.m.
Join these industry leaders for a unique perspective into today’s business realities:

• David D. Clark, Senior Research Scientist and Leader, Advanced Network Architecture Group, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, USA
  Presentation: The Future(s) of Fiber Deployment
• Gary Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ciena, USA
  Presentation: The New Virtualized Network: Converged, Programmable, Intelligent and Open
• Robert W. Tkach, Director, Advanced Photonics Research, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, USA
  Presentation: Optical Fiber Communications: The Next Generation

Private Press & Analyst Luncheon – “The “IT-ization” of Telecom and its Implications” – Tuesday, March 11, 12 – 1:00 p.m.
The “IT-ization” of telecom is underway, pushed by forces including cloud-based service delivery; the need for networks that scale more rapidly and economically; and the demand for real-time adaptive services. What are the implications to optical communications and connectivity service providers, network operators, and infrastructure and component vendors when the “back office” moves into the heart of the network, the CTO’s and CIO’s roles start to blur, and the “data center” replaces the “wire center” in communications networks? Come participate in a lively discussion with our panel. Panelists include:

• Gary Smith, CEO, Ciena
• Ihab Tarazi, CTO, Equinix
• Randy Nicklas, Executive Vice President – Engineering & CTO, Windstream
• Dana Cooperson, VP and Practice Leader, Ovum (moderator)

The Buzz – A Real-time Look at the News and Trends Happening at OFC – Wednesday, March 12, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
This session will feature real-time analysis of the 2014 OFC show floor buzz, analysis of exhibiting company news announcements and what they mean to the industry. An unscripted “fireside chat,” this program will feature three industry analysts discussing the hot exhibitor news announcements, trends and show buzz—offering an exclusive real-time industry insider’s perspective.

Technical Program – Sunday, March 9 – Thursday, March 13
Hundreds of educational workshops, short courses, tutorial sessions and invited talks covering hot topics such as cloud and datacenter networking, bandwidth exhaust (space division multiplexing), 1Tb and beyond optical networking, virtualization and software-defined networks, silicon photonics, integrated photonics, and more.

Post-Deadline Paper Presentations – Thursday, March 13, 6 – 8 p.m.
Post-deadline papers give conference attendees the opportunity to hear new and significant research in rapidly advancing areas at the earliest possible opportunity. The post-deadline session highlights only those papers judged to be truly excellent and compelling in their timeliness.

Rump Session – Will Traffic Growth Break the Internet – and Can Optical Communications Help?, Tuesday, March 11, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Internet traffic is growing at a staggering pace. Currently accepted annual growth figures average around 30 percent, with significantly higher numbers coming from directions such as mobile data. Ultimately, there is a maximum amount of data capable of being transmitted, and without innovation, bandwidth costs will revert to proportional increase. This session— featuring spontaneous, audience-led discussion—will address questions such as, “Will we hit a fundamental fiber capacity limit and if so when?” and “How much time and capacity can network optimization buy us?”

Special Symposia – Tuesday, March 11 and Wednesday, March 12

Enabling the Cloud: Datacenter Network Infrastructure - Tuesday, March 11, 1 – 5:30 p.m.
Cloud computing is creating new requirements and driving innovations in network services such as infrastructure-as-a-service, storage, bandwidth-on-demand, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service. At the same time, it is accelerating the evolution of network architectures: both inter- and intra-data center networks are adapting to meet these new service offerings efficiently. This symposium discusses the requirements and technologies for inter- and intra-data center networking that enable the cloud.

Advanced Electro-optic Packaging and Assembly Technologies – Wednesday, March 12, 1 – 5:30 p.m.
To achieve higher speeds, lower power consumption, and smaller footprint, optics and electronics must start to cohabitate into one package. This means things like ball grid arrays, interposers, and through-silicon vias are now entering the optics world. Traditionally, optics has been packaged in hermetic boxes, but this also needs to change since most electronics do not need hermetic packaging. This symposium aims to bring electronic packaging expertise into OFC and apply it to optical devices, such as silicon photonic integrated circuits.

Market Watch – Tuesday, March 11 – Thursday, March 13
This three-day series of panel sessions engages the applications and business communities in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel discussions feature esteemed guest speakers from the industry, research and investment communities, including Google, IBM, JDSU, Ciena and others. Topics covered this year include the state of the industry, data center architecture and content delivery strategies, and a realistic dissection of the possibilities of PIC vs. Si Photonics.

Service Provider Summit – Wednesday, March 12, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
This program features topics of interest to CTOs, network architects, network designers and technologists within the service provider and carrier sector. Randy Nicklas, executive vice president – engineering and CTO at Windstream, will deliver the keynote presentation, “A Division of Labor: The Evolving Roles of Packet Optical and OTN Technologies at Windstream.” Panels include “Packet Optical Convergence” and “Network Evolution” and feature leaders from a global slate of service providers and end users, including Sprint, XO Communications, AT&T, Comcast and more.

PRESS REGISTRATION: Media/analyst registration for OFC 2014 can be accessed online http://www.ofcconference.org/home/news-and-press/press-and-analysts/press-and-analyst-registration-form/.

CONTACT: Please contact us or visit the event website at www.ofcconference.org for additional information, including travel arrangement details.

Keira Shein, 410.363.9494, [email protected]
Leah Wilkinson, 703.907.0010, [email protected]
Angela Stark, 202.416.1443, [email protected]
Lyndsay Meyer, 202.416.1435, [email protected]