The Optical Society of America (OSA) has announced speakers for its 2011 Executive Forum, “Transforming Business Models and Networks.” Representatives from Alcatel-Lucent and AT&T will keynote the event, while leaders from Cisco, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Juniper Networks, Verizon and other companies will offer their perspectives on various panels. Sponsored by OSA and held in conjunction with OFC/NFOEC 2011, the Executive Forum provides industry executives with networking opportunities, and insights and analysis from the optical communications field's leading business and financial experts on tomorrow's trends and opportunities. The Executive Forum, to be held March 7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will feature a focus on IP and optics. According to ACG Research, IP-based services and applications will dominate the future traffic mix across wireline and wireless networks. In looking beyond traditional assumptions and striving for the most efficient and profitable transport infrastructure for the coming wave of applications, collaboration and cross-layer visibility between IP and optical transport networks will play a key role. Leading the discussion on the future of IP and optics and its impact on carriers’ networks, will be keynote speakers Basil Alwan, President, IP Division and Head of Portfolio Strategy, Networks Group at Alcatel-Lucent, and Simon Zelingher, Vice President - Global Optical, IP & Data Planning, Design, & Development at AT&T Laboratories. Alwan will discuss how proper coordination of IP and optical technologies will enable an infrastructure that is up to the service providers’ challenge of profitable network scaling in his presentation “Which is it: IP over Optical, IP vs. Optical or IP+Optical?” In his talk, “AT&T Network (R)evolution,” Zelingher will cover how new technologies and software will enable AT&T's network to be flexible and responsive to the needs of underlying applications such as cloud computing and video distribution and will lower cost by being both adaptive and responsive to changing capacity needs. Additional Executive Forum topics to be discussed include business model innovations and technical requirements to support those new models, as well as a view into the state of the optical components market. Panel discussions include: Panel 1: IP and Optics Integration: Challenges and Next Steps Carriers and their suppliers discuss both the challenges of IP and optics integration and the opportunities for future capabilities. Panel 2: Business Model Innovation Speakers on this panel will showcase their respective approaches to applying technologies and business models to tap new opportunities in, for example, infrastructure as a service (aka cloud computing), mobile broadband, backhaul, and submarine. Panel 3: Developing the Technology Edge: Requirements to Support New Business Models With new business models emerging, what technologies and ecosystems are required to support them now and in the future? Executives from systems companies will address the market opportunities and questions related to the technology needs to support business models and networks. Panel 4: Where is the Optical Components Market Going? Industry executives will address business structure opportunities and challenges and projections on how business models will change in five years to support customer and technology trends. Uniting more than 106,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org