OFC 2003: Service Providers Look to the Future

ATLANTA, March 27 -- Participants in the Service Provider Summit, a new feature of the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC) this year, looked at what's on the horizon to reinvigorate industry growth. OFC 2003 is being held this week in Atlanta.

Keynote speaker Bill Smith, chief of product development and CTO at BellSouth Corp., described his firm's overall network transformation plan, which includes access networks, core networks and optical-based products. Smith described how the company is moving from electrical to optical, circuit-to-packet transmission overlay to shared networks and narrowband to broadband.

Smith said he sees broadband access evolution as the key to the company's overall transformation plan. There isn't a single solution, he said, but rather a set of tools that are required to solve the need for broadband. Included in that toolkit would be DSLAM deployment deeper in the distribution network, FDI-based solutions, ADSL over fiber-in-the-loop and improved reach ADSL2.

Smith's presentation was followed by a full day of OFC programming panels, networking opportunities, lunch and an evening networking reception.

View OFC 2003 photos and daily coverage here.