2025 Lightwave+BTR Innovation Reviews Honorees

Our 12th annual Lightwave+BTR Innovation Reviews saw technology developers submit products introduced or enhanced since March 2024 in various technology categories for review by our independent judges. In some cases, this resulted in entries for products that will debut at the end of this March at OFC 2025.

Readers will notice something different with this year's award lineup. After merging the former Broadband Technology Report (BTR) with Lightwave last year, the Innovation Awards will now honor innovations in both optical and broadband.

Lightwave+BTR Editor-in-Chief Sean Buckley, as Award Program Manager, assigned each entry to be reviewed by at least three judges knowledgeable in the relevant technology or application. As was the case in previous years, they rated each entry on the following scale:

0-1.5: Not a particularly useful product

2.0-2.5: Okay, but perhaps a commodity product

3.0-3.5: Solid product, usually with at least one attribute that sets it apart from commodity products

4.0-4.5: Excellent product with technical features and performance that provide clear and substantial benefits

5.0: Superb product that demonstrates breakthrough performance and/or innovation.

This year’s panel included:

Fuad Alnajjar, Vice President, Business Engineering, Wireless for Mediacom
Sean Buckley, Editor in Chief, Lightwave+BTR
Frank Chang, Ph.D., CTO, Source Photonics
Peter De Dobbelare, Cisco Fellow, Cisco Systems
Stephen Hardy, former editorial director of Lightwave+BTR
Tee Harton, Senior Director of OSP Engineering at Cox Communications
Jeff Heynen, Vice President, Broadband Access and Home Networking for Dell’Oro Group
Lisa Huff, principal analyst, optical components, OVUM
Tom Issenhuth, principal at Issenhuth Consulting
Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO of LightCounting
Patrick McLaughlin, editor in chief, Cabling Installation & Maintenance
Serge Melle, Director of Product Marketing of Optical Networks at Nokia
John Ronda Jr., VP of Sales Engineering and Architecture for Astound Business Solutions
Rick Talbot, principal analyst - intelligent network transport, ACG Research
Jim Theodoras, vice president of R&D, HG Genuine USA
Christian Urricariet, Senior Director of Product Marketing of Integrated Photonics Solutions at Intel
Mark Woodworth, Managing Director, Magnolia Road Internet Cooperative

As has been the tradition, we honor the following entries for achieving a score of at least 3.5 on that 1 to 5 scale. Congratulations to all the companies listed below. Be sure to look for these companies at OFC 2025 to learn more.

Congrats to the following honorees!

Optical

Carrier Fiber, Cable, Enclosures, and Accessories

AFL: Apex X-1
Clearfield: FieldSmart FiberFlex 600
HFCL Limited: 864-Fiber Nano Thin G.657.A1 Microcable
Sumitomo Electric Lightwave: Transit Tunnel Optical Network Solution

Communications Semiconductors and Electrical ICs

Marvell: Alaska P PCIe Retimer Product Line
Suzhou Everbright Photonics Co., Ltd: 100Gbps PAM4 VCSEL
TeraSignal: TSLink

Data Center Fiber, Cable, Enclosures and Accessories

Arrayed Fiberoptics Corporation: Initially Loose MPO Connector MJC2.0
Go!Foton: PEACOC® 360 Panel
HFCL: Global Compact Indoor Ribbon Trunk Cables
Infraeo: 1.6T OSFP Linear Equalized Active Copper Cable & Loopback
US Conec: VSFF Multi-fiber Connector for Space Constrained Pathways