ANAHEIM, Calif., Dec. 30, 2005 -- Representatives from all areas of the optics industry will gather March 5-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center for the second annual OFC/NFOEC. The first combined OFC/NFOEC (Optical Fiber Communication/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference) debuted last March to a crowded exhibition and strong technical sessions, and more than 13,000 people attended; those figures are expected to be exceeded this year, organizers said. OFC/NFOEC is managed by the Optical Society of America (OSA) and co-sponsored by the OSA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (IEEE LEOS) and the IEEE Communications Society. Telcordia Technologies is the technical co-sponsor. The 2006 conference will feature more than 550 exhibitors and 120 technical sessions, 100 presenters, 40 short courses, 16 interactive workshops and a plenary session with two keynote speakers. The plenary session will be held March 7 at 9 a.m. and will feature Applied Minds Inc.'s co-founder and chief creative officer, Bran Ferren, who will speak on the art and science of the imagination and how to organize for innovation. Ferren has worked in aerospace and other sciences, won three Academy Awards for technical achievement and was president of Walt Disney Imagineering. His current company, Applied Minds, provides technology, design and consulting services to clients including Disney, NASA and GM. The second keynote speaker, William L. Smith, chief technology officer at BellSouth Corp., will discuss BellSouth's efforts to restore service after the Hurricane Katrina and lessons the company learned from the challenges it presented. The John Tyndall Award for 2006 and the IEEE Photonics Award for 2005 will be presented during the plenary session. The John Tyndall Award, endowed by Corning Inc., recognizes an individual who has made contributions to fiber optics technology. The 2006 recipient is Donald R. Scifres, for his contributions to semiconductor laser diode technology that power optical fiber networks. Scifres has studied semiconductor lasers and integrated optics since 1972 and co-founded SDL Inc. in 1983. He was its CEO, president and board chairman until the company merged with optical components supplier JDS Uniphase Corp. in 2001. He has since founded SDL Ventures LLC, a firm focusing on early-stage investments in the lasers, photonics, fiber optics and microwave communications and biotech fields. The 2005 IEEE Photonics Award will be presented to Frederick J. Leonberger for technical leadership, commercialization and practical deployment of photonic component technologies for optical communications. Leonberger, currently the principal of EOvation Technologies LLC, a technology advisory firm he founded in July 2003, also served as chief technology officer at JDS Uniphase. OFC/NFOEC 2006 will also feature invited speakers on subjects incluidng reducing losses in photonic crystal fibers, recent progress in quantum dot optical amplifiers and lasers, and high-resolution control of the optical phase for code-empowered networking. This year, the Service Provider Summit is open to all conference and exhibit-only attendees. The program, which features panel discussions, keynote presentations, exhibits and networking, is geared to CTOs, network architects, network designers and technologists in the service provider and carrier sector. Also free to all conference and exhibit-only attendees is Market Watch, a three-day (March 7-9) series of panel sessions designed to engage the applications and business communities in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel discussions feature guest speakers from industry, research and the investment community. A special session on Thursday will highlight video over IP. For more information, visit: www.ofcnfoec.org