For the sixth year of our optical communications technology recognition program, we’ve gone back to basics. As always, we invited technology developers to submit products in various technology categories for review by our independent panel of judges in time for OFC 2019. In some cases, that brought entries for products that will be introduced at this year's show.
Lightwave Editorial Director Stephen Hardy, in his role as Award Program Manager, assigned each entry to be reviewed by judges knowledgeable in the relevant technology or application. As was the case in previous years, they rated each entry on the following scale:
0-1: Useful product, yet commodity
2-3: Solid product with viable attributes
3-4: Excellent product with technical features and performance that provide clear and substantial benefits
4-5: Superb product that sets new standard for performance and provides groundbreaking and new technical milestones.
This year’s panel included:
- Robert Blum, director, strategic marketing and business development, Intel Corp.
- Brandon Collings, CTO, Optical Communications, CCOP, Lumentum
- Jorg-Peter Elbers, SVP, advanced technology, standards and IPR, ADVA Optical Networking
- Frank Effenberger, Futurewei Technologies
- Mike Frankel, Ciena Fellow, Ciena
- Lisa Huff, principal analyst, Optical Components, OVUM
- Tom Issenhuth, principal at Issenhuth Consulting
- Peter Jones, Principal Engineer, Cisco
- Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO, LightCounting
- Patrick McLaughlin, editor in chief, Cabling Installation & Maintenance
- Bethany Rüddek, RTPM, program advisor/R&D, Concert Technologies
- Rick Talbot, president, Telecommunications Solutions
- Jim Theodoras, vice president of R&D, HGGenuine USA.
- Matt Traverso, Principal Engineer, Cisco
- Dr. Tiejun J. (TJ) Xia, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Verizon
And, as has been tradition, we honor the following entries for achieving a score of at least 3.5 on that 1 to 5 scale. Congratulations to all of the companies listed below – and be sure to look for these companies at OFC 2019 to find out more.
Carrier Fiber, Cable, Enclosures and Accessories
Corning Clear Track Hallway Fiber Pathway
Go!Foton PEACOC™ OSP High Density Fiber Distribution Hub
Wirewerks NextSTEP FLEX Module
Wirewerks NextSTEP Wall Mount Enclosure
Communications Semiconductors and Electrical ICs
Microchip Technology DIGI-G5 OTN processor
Phononic Non-Hermetic Thermoelectric Cooler
VLC Photonics Innovative Business Model
Data Center Fiber, Cable, Enclosures and Accessories
Corning RocketRibbon Extreme Density Cable
Field Test Equipment
Anritsu Network Master Pro MT1000A
EXFO ConnectorMax MPO Link Test Solution
Fluke Networks FI-3000 FiberInspector™ Pro
Fluke Networks OptiFiber® Pro High Dynamic Range OTDR
Ixia, a Keysight Business, AresONE Test System
Spirent Communications pX3-QSFP28-12-225A-FLEXE Test Module
Sumix Manta-W+ Fiber Inspection Microscope
VIAVI Solutions OLP-87 NG-PON2 Wavelength Selective PON Power Meter
VIAVI Solutions OTU-5000 Optical Test Unit
FTTx Products
ADTRAN 2nd Generation Gfast Portfolio
Sanwa Electronics USA FTTH Solution
Wirewerks NextSTEP™ 1U Patch Panel
Lab/Production Test Equipment
EXFO FTBx-88460 Power Blazer – Multiservice 400G Test Solution
Keysight Technologies Infiniium UXR-Series Oscilloscopes
Spirent Communications pX3/dX3 400/200/100/50GbE QSFP-DD Appliance
Tektronix DPO7OE2 59-GHz Single-Mode Optical Probe
Xena Networks Safire NGFW Tester
Optical Components
Finisar Integrated Tunable Transmitter and Receiver Assembly (ITTRA)
MATP-10025 MACOM PRISM™, 100G Serial PHY
Modular Photonics On-chip Mode Selective Multiplexer
Senko Advanced Components SN Connector
Optical Subsystems
Lumentum TrueFlex® Contentionless Twin 8x24 WSS
Optical Transceivers and Transponders
Acacia Communications AC1200 1.2T Coherent Module
Menara Networks, an IPG Photonics Company, 200G CFP2-DCO
Menara Networks, an IPG Photonics Company, Tunable "System-in-a-Module" OTN SFP+
Optical Transport Systems
Calix AXOS Intelligent Access Edge Solution
Ciena 8180 Coherent Networking Platform
Huawei 200G-600G Programmable Transport System
Huawei OXC on OSN 9800 Platform
Huber+Suhner Cube Optics CUBO mini – 100G Optical Multi-Purpose Tool