Left: OFC attendees at the San Diego Convention Center; top right: conversation with plenary speakers; bottom right: the Nagel Lounge.
OFC Returns as Hybrid Live–Virtual Event
From 6 to 10 March, the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) welcomed the global optical-communications community—in person in San Diego, CA, USA, and on screen for virtual participants. The result was an inclusive hybrid format for the premier global event for optical communications and networking.
The 2022 OFC attracted 8,000 attendees with 430 exhibiting companies. It also featured three standout plenary speakers: John Bowers of the Institute of Energy Efficiency, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA; James Green of NASA, USA; and Elise Neel of New Business Incubation, Verizon, USA.
“We had a great week here at OFC and are glad to have the industry back together in person,” said Eve Griliches, a senior product marketing staffer at Cisco. “It was clear the right customers were all here to see the innovation and new technologies that have come to market over the past few years.”
This year’s OFC also featured the Susan R. Nagel Lounge, named in honor of the first woman chair of OFC. Started in OFC 2018, the lounge has functioned as an inclusive networking space that offers attendees the opportunity to hear from leaders in the field, discuss technology and diversity trends, meet colleagues and explore new business opportunities.
In addition to hosting the conference and exhibit hall, OFC launched OFCnet, a live high-speed fiber path connecting the San Diego Convention Center with the San Diego facility of the operator of California’s research and education network, CENIC. With up to 34 Tb/s of bandwidth, OFCnet is designed to accelerate the development and deployment of cutting-edge networking technology. The facilitators of this collaborative network—which will be available for the next five years—include CENIC, Ciena, EXFO, Lumen, Smart City Networks, the University of California San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute and Supercomputer Center, and Viavi.
OFC is co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society, the IEEE Photonics Society and Optica, and managed by Optica. The 2023 meeting will take place from 5 to 9 March, once again at the San Diego Convention Center.