Demand is growing fast in optical communications. Video is the #1 driver for bandwidth, with YouTube alone using as much bandwidth today as the entire Internet did in 2000. Companies like Netflix, Amazon and Wal-Mart are offering feature-length movies for download, driving demand for fiber-to-the-home. Plus, high-definition video is fast becoming the state-of-the-art, with one high-definition movie taking up as much bandwidth as 35,000 Web pages, according to the Fiber-to-the-Home Council. Also, 25% of Americans recently said they watched a short video on their phone, according to Solutions Research Group.

Clearly, wireless communications are also increasing rapidly, especially data services such as those offered on the iPhone and other smart phone devices. The more wireless data usage, the higher bandwidth is needed in the core network, which drives optical deployment. This is what is happening now with 3G deployment. 

Carriers need to "spend" to upgrade backhaul and core network to support the explosion in wireless data/video usage. Today the mainstream is 10G, but 40G is being deployed and will take over 10G. 100G will be deployed next year, and the industry has even begun to talk about 400G!  The key is to cram in more info per bit per wavelength based on advanced modulation techniques.

Loi Nguyen
Vice President Networking, Communications and Multi-Market Products
Inphi Corporation
www.inphi.com
OFC/NFOEC Booth #813

A hot topic that after several years of intense research and development is rapidly coming to fruition is the deployment of 100G transport in carrier networks.  After several 100G field trials were reported in conferences and technical literature, the first 100G system was taken into commercial service late last year in Europe, between Frankfurt and Paris.  The modulation format is based on polarization division multiplexed QPSK (i.e., 4 bits/symbol) and a coherent receiver with digital signal processing is used to provide signal recovery and mitigation of transport impairments such as chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion.  Since several major component vendors and system integrators are close to introducing 100G products, I expect that several more 100G systems will be taken into service this year.

Given the continued rapid growth of traffic due to applications such as high-speed computing, high-definition video transport and peer-to-peer networking, research has started on optical communications systems that operate at line rates of 400Gb/s or even 1 Tb/s and achieve spectral efficiencies well above the 4 bits/symbol used by current 100G transport systems.  Note that this implies that higher SNR is needed.  The need for modulation techniques with very high spectral efficiency will require the development of photonic integrated circuits (PIC) that achieve excellent performance and allow cost-efficient system integration. 

Another key development area will be the development of very high speed analog-to-digital converters that provide the needed resolution to capture every bit in the signal constellation while allowing operation at higher symbol rates.  An interesting issue is that an increase in the symbol rate to achieve transport rates above 100G would require increasing the 50 GHz ITU spacing now common in long-haul transport systems, resulting in less wavelengths per fiber and therefore a smaller increase in aggregate system capacity than might have been expected based on the increase in line rate. 

Bert Basch
NFOEC General Chair

Note from OFC/NFOEC:  100G topics will be discussed in numerous programs at the conference.  More information on 100G programming can be found in the following areas of the Web site:

• Market Watch
• Workshops and Panels
• Conference Program
• Morning Technical Briefings

Optical fiber continues its historic worldwide push to bring fiber optic technology closer to those who need access to voice, video and data communications.  As we watch the winter Olympics, we should keep in mind that the video is being broadcast worldwide over fiber optics and those who have fiber to their residence have a direct fiber optic link to the cameras at the venue sites.

Through the short history of optical fiber technology, we have seen immense amounts of fibers installed worldwide.  Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), first developed and installed in the 1990s, brought us immense bandwidth capacity linking continents, countries, and cities. The same technology taught us how to make optical components that could split, multiplex, filter, switch and direct light economically.  Since the first field trials in the 1980s, fiber to the user has evolved to directly link millions of homes and businesses with optical fibers. This communications reality changed economics as users can now work directly from home and communicate worldwide.

The FTTx Center at this year's OFC/NFOEC offers direct access to related organizations and manufacturers of optical components, sub assemblies, systems and test equipment.  This year, 25 companies and organizations and industry specialists will be available to answer questions.  The education center and literature area is also staffed and can provide expertise as needed.

As FTTx moves forward, the latest innovations are taking advantage of recent Gigabit technologies that have been standardized. This has led to the deployment of "next generation" networks (NGPON) as well as other recent technological advancements, such as radio frequency over glass (RFOG) for the CATV industry, four-wavelength PON, and WDM-PON.

Larry Johnson
The Light Brigade - FTTx Center Coordinator
www.lightbrigade.com

This year, one of the hot topics we are seeing in the OFC Optoelectronic Devices subcommittee is the drive toward low cost and energy efficient devices. The development of these devices will be hugely important for high-speed optical access networks, and such fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems will potentially create a huge market for optoelectronic devices in the next decade.

At the conference we will hear an invited talk from Christophe Kamierski of Alcatel 3-5 Labs in France that will specifically address the issue of low cost devices for future optical access networks. Christophe will demonstrate a realistic solution for colorless 10Gb/s un-cooled ONUs using amplified electro-absorption modulators that are compatible with current low-cost packaging technologies. Indeed this idea of low cost packaging is covered by a large number of contributed papers at OFC/NFOEC 2010. These papers demonstrate the ability to maintain excellent performance in terms of speed and energy efficiency while using low-cost packaging solutions that make the devices more suitable for price-sensitive markets such as FTTH.

Another key technology toward the development of low-cost optical systems is that of photonic integration of optoelectronic devices. Photonic integration is considered to be the technology that will enable future capacity requirements while also reducing the cost per bit, and it is therefore vital for the development of practical and cost-efficient photonic systems. The latest findings in this area will be covered by both contributed papers and invited papers from Chris Doerr of Bell Labs, Charles Joyner of Infinera, and Shinji Matsuo of NTT.

As a subcommittee chair and attendee, I look forward hearing presentations in these areas at the conference this year.

Liam Barry
Associate Professor, Dublin City University
Chair, OFC Subcommittee D, Optoelectronic Devices

We are delighted to offer this blog to you as a way to stay up to date on what is happening with OFC/NFOEC 2010, as well as hear directly from your colleagues about what is hot in optical fiber communications today.

First off, we want to mention how excited we are for this year’s conference.  Innovation in the field of optical communications continues to thrive and we are looking forward to hearing from top researchers around the world making breakthroughs in areas like datacom, green networking, next-generation PON systems, quantum communications, coherent systems and beyond 100G Ethernet.  Additionally, hundreds of leading companies in the field will be on hand to showcase the latest products and services in all sectors of the field.  The show floor will be hopping with the latest in 100 G standards and development, wireless network evolution beyond 3G, packet and optical integration in next-generation systems, and photonic integration in networks.

We were also happy to announce last month that the 2010 conference will be dedicated to Nobel Laureate and industry pioneer Charles Kao.  Kao is known as the “Father of Fiber Optics” and was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to long-distance transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.   A series of events and activities in his honor are being planned – be sure to check back for more information soon.

We hope you are as excited as we are to kick off OFC/NFOEC 2010 on March 21.  Stay tuned to the blog for plenty of information and insights over the next few months.  We look forward to seeing you in San Diego!

Bert Basch
John Cartledge
Ekaterina Golovchenko

OFC/NFOEC 2010 General Co-Chairs