March 5, 2006 Anaheim, CA -- While most of the news will be made on the exhibition floor, the heart of OFC/NFOEC remains the technical conference. This year's conference program, the second that combines what were once separate events, will continue to focus on the areas that conference general co-chair Tom Strasser says his committee believes are driving the majority of research and deployment of optical communications technologies: fiber to the x (FTTX) and reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs).
The conference, which began today with short courses, continues through Friday. Strasser says the conference organizers look at what scientists and engineers are working on and gather speakers accordingly. In North America, that means FTTX and ROADMs, he says.
"[FTTX is] something that was really starting to hit the mainstream last year," according to Strasser. "I think it's gaining quite a bit of momentum and you're seeing real¿ business results out of that area now. And it's certainly something where the standards and technology are still evolving. It's moving forward in real time."
ROADM technology is perhaps a year behind FTTX in terms of deployment, Strasser says, but is starting to make its mark in the U.S. among the incumbent carriers.
"Part of the reason that's lagging by about a year is the carriers got off to a slightly slower start on that, and [demand] was not as unified," says Strasser. "This year, the last ILEC is putting out an RFP on ROADMs, so that means they're now all heading in that direction. I think the reason why is that particular upgrade, the infrastructure and technology, was something that arose out of the service offerings that came from fiber to the home."
The conference, particularly the plenary sessions and forums, will provide several opportunities to learn more about these areas. Strasser points to the Tuesday plenary presentations from Keith Cambron, senior vice president of AT&T Labs, and Hank Kafka, chief architect at BellSouth, as highlights, as well as a talk that AT&T's executive vice president, network planning and engineering, Chris Rice, will deliver as part of the Service Provider Summit on Wednesday.
Of course, AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth should focus attention on these presentations as well.
Strasser says that the influence that North American activities exert on the program's shape does not imply a geographically narrow perspective. "It's clear in our minds that we see this as the preeminent worldwide technology conference in fiber-optic communications," he offers. "I think that while we focus significantly on what's going on in North America, I think that is in part driven just by the fact that historically we have seen anywhere from a one- to a three-year lead in the times that technologies are deployed here in North America versus elsewhere in the world."
That gap is closing, Strasser says, particularly in FTTX technologies, where Japan and Korea have led the drive toward higher bandwidth to the user.
Strasser says the pairing of OFC and NFOEC has led to a better-rounded conference. OFC traditionally has focused on research and emerging technologies, which NFOEC has been an engineering conference focused on technologies that were either nearing deployment or whose deployment had reveals new issues.
Additional information on the conference program can be found on the conference website.
-- S. Hardy