OFC/NFOEC 2011 Names Plenary Speakers

The 2011 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC), an international conference for optical communications and networking professionals, will be held March 6 to 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Deutsche Telekom CTO, Olivier Baujard; IBM Blue Gene chief architect, Alan Gara; and Kris Rinne, AT&T Wireless senior vice president - Architecture and Planning will present keynote addresses during the OFC/NFOEC plenary session on Tuesday, March 8. Their presentations will provide insights into the latest improvements in supercomputing, broadband technology and network transformation, and the growth of new wireless services and wireless broadband demands.

Titled, “Surfing the Wave of the Gigabit Society,” Baujard’s presentation will discuss the future data and media centric world with a particular emphasis on the challenges it presents for network operators. Baujard will cover network transformation and strategy and practical examples of how to enable efficient broadband. He also will talk about Deutsche Telecom and its vision for the future.

Gara’s presentation, entitled “Supercomputing's Symbiotic Relationship with Advanced Optics,” will discuss the challenges of reaching computing at the exaflop level with special emphasis on areas where traditional communication solutions will not suffice. As in the past, optical technologies will be needed to address new scales of cost, power and performance density. Innovation in optics is critical to the success of future supercomputers. This results in supercomputers also serving as a breeding ground for advances and development in optical technologies that will migrate to the broader commercial market.

Rinne’s presentation will share insights into the explosive growth of mobile data and how that growth impacts optical networks, including cell site backhaul. She will also discuss the development from high speed packet access to long term evolution.

OFC/NFOEC is managed by the Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (IEEE/LEOS). Acting as a non-financial technical co-sponsor is Telcordia Technologies Inc.

For more information, visit: www.ofcnfoec.org