ECOC WRAP ECOC 2023
Optical Transmission R&D at Ciena, who’s presentation covered practical considerations for achieving quantum- secure optical networks; and Brian Smith, from Lumentum’s CTO Office, spoke on the 6th generation of fibre optic communications: Carrier and Spatial Division Multiplexing (CSDM). The above is just a small sample of the presentations that were on offer, however, all available presentations can be downloaded here. DEMO FOCUS New for 2024 was the Demo Focus, where exhibitors not only got to show off their wares, but also give live demonstrations. This inaugural event featured 10 demonstrations, including mobile application for network maintenance empowered by augmented reality and artificial intelligence; an SDN control approach to integrating QKD and classical optical networks; and modular control plane implementation for disaggregated optical transport networks with multi-band support.
New solutions for the business end of the network.
THE CONFERENCE Europe’s leading conference on optical communications, and one of the most prestigious and long-standing events in the field worldwide celebrated its 49th iteration in Glasgow, Scotland, this year. Welcoming over 1,400 attendees from 39 countries, who heard 599 presentations, the ECOC Conference continued its tradition of a wide variety of session formats, as well as the traditional oral and poster presentations, delegates enjoyed a hackathon, workshops, and the ever- popular Rump Session debate. Speakers at the conference included Professor Polina Bayvel, who’s presentation titled “Optical networks – seeing through the cloud,” was dedicated to the memory of the late Professor John E Midwinter, one of the founders of ECOC and a pioneer of optical fibre communications. Also featured, were vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, Vinton G. Cerf, who spoke on the role of optical communication in terrestrial and extra- terrestrial networks, and Director of STFC’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre Prof. Gillian Wright, CBE, MBE, FRSE, who gave a talk on the James Webb Space Telescope. For a full round-up of the conference, including photographs and speakers, visit https://ecoc2023.theiet.org
zones, each focusing on a specific area of fibre to the home deployment, the centre provided a common meeting place for all attendees with an interest in this particular field. The FTTx Focus area consisted of separate spaces for components; connectivity; connectorization; ftth; fttx literature; new products; fusion splicing; cleaning and inspection; inside/outside plant; and test and measurement. PRODUCT FOCUS Also running through the three-day conference was Product Focus, one highlight of which was the Open XR Forum sponsored session that ran through a considerable part of the day. Product Focus also featured presentations from leading companies including Infinera, AMD, Ciena, Intel, Huawei, Fujitsu and Mitsubishi, along with multiple speakers from the EPIC Techwatch and the International Photonics & Electronics Committee (IPEC). A full list of speakers and topics can be found here. The highlight of the morning however, was The ECOC Exhibition Industry Awards, which recognised a number of companies for significant achievements in advancing the business of optical communications, transport, networking, fibre-based products, photonic integration and related developments. A full list of winners is available on page 24. While Glasgow ’23 has closed for this year, the conversations, connections and innovations will continue and the biggest, most influential and most ambitious companies in the industry will carry on driving optical networking forward. For anyone who was unable to attend this year’s event, highlights are available on the ECOC website here.
The new Demo Focus was one for the technically-minded.
However, the most extensive demo of the show was conducted by the OIF. The organisation showcased its largest- ever multi-vendor interoperability demonstration, highlighting advancements in four key technology areas: 400ZR+ optics, Co-Packaging solutions; Common Electrical I/O (CEI) channels; and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) implementations. The live and static interoperability demo’s featured 39 companies. Telefonica was the hosting consulting network operator, and LightRiver was a host for technology- specific pre-demonstration integration testing. FTTX FOCUS The FTTx Focus area brought together the very latest fibre to the ‘x’ in a dedicated area, showcasing a range of products. Split into 8 individual
ECOC Exhibition will return in 2024 in Frankfurt , Germany , from 23rd – 25th September . Make sure the date is in your diary and contact sales@ ecocexhibition.com to find out more about exhibiting in 2024. Make sure you’re following us at ECOC Exhibition on LinkedIn and @ECOC_Exhibition on X, (formerly Twitter) and let us know what your experience during the 2023 show was like.
THANK YOU The ECOC Exhibition organisers
would like to thank all of the sponsors, exhibitors, attendees and event staff for their participation and support for making Glasgow 2023 such a successful event. We can’t wait to see you in Frankfurt next year.
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INDUSTRY FOCUS 2023/2024
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