OFC 2021 presents photonic innovations addressing ever-increasing data demand

OFC, the annual optical communications conference and exhibition, is underway (through June 11th). This year the event is virtual, due to the pandemic, but it offers an ambitious range of technical programming, special events and new product showcases spanning the entire optical fiber communications ecosystem.

This year's expo welcomes industry leaders, academia, media and analysts worldwide. The conference kicked off on 6th June, with a range of short courses and Workshops on optical transport networks, neuromorphic computing and quantum information processing and other trending topics.

The interactive exhibition features new product announcements from companies driving innovations in hardware and software-based networking solutions. In addition, for the first time, OFC is presenting daily video conversations with exhibitors and leading analysts, including Sterling Perrin, Heavy Reading; Ian Redpath, OMDIA; Andrew Schmitt, Cignal AI; Jimmy Yu, Dell'Oro Group and Vladimir Kozlov, LightCounting previewing a range of new products.

"The technologies being discussed and demonstrated at OFC will play a critical role in moving our industry forward and helping us connect on a global scale," commented Chongjin Xie, OFC General Chair, Alibaba Group, USA. "With the entire community represented, this week is going to feature developments from leading brands and new entrants that will shape the future of optical fiber communication and data networking."

This year's event features a plenary session, peer-reviewed presentations and nearly 100 invited speakers, four Symposia, three Special Sessions, 10 Workshops, seven Panels, 49 Short Courses, plus business-focused programming. Free space optical communications technology will be the focus of several presentations in addition to photonic integration, spatial division multiplexing and 5G.

"There is no other event that offers the breadth and depth of OFC's business and technical programming," said Xie. "I'm looking forward to expanding my knowledge base and hearing from experts and colleagues worldwide as they lead the way to solving network challenges."

Key exhibitor launches and announcements

• II-VI demoes 400/800G transceivers for next-gen 25.6T & 51.2T datacenter switches
• Lumenisity demonstrates over 1000km reach with 45x 400Gb/s channels using next generation Hollowcore CoreSmart cable solution and Ciena's WaveLogic 5 Extreme
• Ranovus announces second-generation co-packaged optics chip for hyperscale data center applications
• Corning to introduce smaller, easier-to-install cables and new fiber innovations at OFC 2021
• Go!Foton announces general availability of Nemo, any density optical patch panel
• NeoPhotonics announces CFP2-DCO module transmission of 400 Gbps over 1500 km in a 75 GHz-spaced EDFA-only DWDM system
• Hengtong Rockley announces and live-demonstrates 800G QSFP-DD800 DR8 pluggable optical module
• Corning introduces revolutionary fiber designed to accelerate network transformation to 5G, Cloud, and beyond
• Viavi reveals mOSA optical spectrum analysis module, enhancing established test portfolio for lab and manufacturing
• Macom announces new laser portfolio to address global 5G and data center applications
• Ayar Labs demonstrates industry's first terabit optical link for co-packaged optics and chip-to-chip connectivity