There’s no doubt about it now – OFC/NFOEC is well underway with the one of the busiest days of the conference today.  The day kicked off with the Plenary and Awards Session this morning, honoring several industry pioneers for their achievements in optical fiber communication.  Tingye Li then provided a dedication address to Charles Kao, who was in attendance today with his wife Gwen, and to whom the 2010 conference has been dedicated.

Next up were three distinguished keynote speakers.  Philippe Keryer, VP at Alcatel-Lucent and president of their Carrier Product Group, discussed the challenges, transformations and innovations of global broadband networks and what Alcatel-Lucent is doing to make sure they can increase revenue, decrease cost and improve eco-sustainability in this area.  SEACOM’s CEO Brian Herlihy took the stage next to discuss his company’s efforts in providing broadband to East Africa.  The undersea fiber optic network went online last July and since then demand for broadband in Africa has skyrocketed by 1000%, Herlihy said.  He went on to outline the socio-economic, socio-political and environmental challenges his company continues to face as they work to connect the continent.  He noted SEACOM’s entire success is based on cost reduction – a theme that continues to come up throughout the conference.  Lastly, Hideo Miyahara of NICT in Japan gave an interesting perspective on bio-inspired network controls.  He is researching ways to borrow mechanisms of self-organization and autonomy found in biological systems and applying the ideas to control communications networks.  One example he provided involved mimicking the way a group of fireflies flashes their lights and applying that mechanism to waveform synchronized data gathering.

After the plenary session, attendees got their first glimpse of the OFC/NFOEC show floor in the exhibit hall, which opened today.  More than 500 companies are showcasing their products and services, with plenty of new offerings for attendees this year.  More information on show floor highlights is available here.

Of course the technical sessions are going strong today as well.  Post-deadline papers were announced today, so be sure to tack those on to your agenda for tomorrow.  More on those in a future blog update.

Lastly – be sure to find some time to unwind tonight at the Conference Reception from 6:30 – 8:00 in the Sails Pavilion of the convention center. 

Plenary Session
The plenary session for OFC/NFOEC includes three speakers who will address recent developments and future challenges in optical fiber communications.  One of the speakers is Dr. Hideo Miyahara, president of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan.  NICT conducts research and development on topics that include the architectural and elemental technologies for next-generation optical networks.  Dr. Miyahara will describe the future role of information and communication technologies in society and the challenges faced in developing next-generation networks.

Technical Hot Topics
In the technical program at OFC/NFOEC, one of the hot topics for 2010 is spectral efficiency.  This is being looked at in terms of multi-level modulation formats, coherent systems and the signal-processing algorithms that are needed for such systems, as well as device technology, including the development of photonic integrated circuits for coherent systems.  The use of digital signal processing in transmitters and receivers has dramatically enriched the field, and many exciting results will be presented at the conference.

Charles Kao Dedication
This year, OFC/NFOEC provides attendees with an incredibly unique opportunity to hear the latest advances in research, development and engineering for optical fiber communications and to take a step back in time and hear about the early days of optical fiber communications at the Charles Kao Symposium.  The Technical Program Chairs have put together a wonderful program to honor Charles Kao that includes presentations by Gwen Kao and individuals who made pioneering contributions to the development of the first practical optical fibers.  Interestingly, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of the first low-loss optical fiber reported by Corning Glass Works.

See you in San Diego,
John Cartledge
OFC/NFOEC 2010 General Co-Chair