Photonic integration, cloud and data center networking, and optical and wireless convergence are three of the many hot topics to be discussed March 17-21 at the Optical Fiber Communication and Conference Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) 2013 in Anaheim, Calif. As the largest international event for the science and business of optical communications, OFC/NFOEC 2013 will host the entire scope of optical communications, providing technical programming, exhibits and other activities for audiences from systems and components manufacturers to service providers, carriers and enterprise. The conference is expected to draw more than 12,000 attendees and more than 550 exhibitors and will feature more than 800 technical and business presentations. The technical and business programming highlights will include workshops, tutorials, short courses and paper presentations on the latest optical communications research from more than a dozen topical areas. A plenary and awards session will address today’s business realities, including deployment challenges, software-defined transport networks and network transformation in the age of programmable multilayer infrastructures. Special symposia on enabling cloud computing and the convergence of wireless and optical networking also will be on the agenda. New to the show is a session called The Buzz — A Real-Time Look at the News and Trends Happening at OFC/NFOEC 2013. An unscripted “fireside chat,” the program will feature three industry analysts discussing the exhibitor news announcements, trends and show buzz, offering an exclusive real-time industry insider’s perspective. A Rump Session on one of the hottest fields at OFC/NFOEC over the past few years — silicon photonics — will allow audience members to participate in a spontaneous discussion to air some overlooked issues and discuss its potential impact on optical networks. The 2013 event also will include a Service Provider Summit featuring topics of interest to chief technology officers, network architects and designers, and technologists within the service provider and carrier sector. Joe Weinman, senior vice president of cloud services and strategy at Telx, will deliver the keynote presentation, “What Cloudonomics Means for the Network.” Panels will include “Monetizing the Network — Achieving Value Out of the Infrastructure,” and “Acquisition and Integration Strategies — Consolidation in the Service Provider Realm,” and will feature global leaders of service providers and end users, including Sprint, TCD, Level 3 and Zayo. Market Watch, a three-day series of panel sessions to engage the applications and business communities in the field of optical communications, will offer presentations from guest speakers from the industry, research and the investment communities. Companies will include JDSU, Verizon, Finisar and Ericsson. Topics will include the state of the industry, packet optical convergence, components, high-speed pluggable optics for the datacenter, and metro 100G applications. From network and test equipment vendors to systems and components manufacturers, the Exhibit Hall will feature the latest in fiber and optics technology. It also will highlight three theaters of business programming, featuring presentations by experts from Verizon, Juniper, Google, Sprint, Microsoft, Cisco, Corning, the Ethernet Alliance, Optical Internetworking Forum and many others. For more information, visit: www.ofcnfoec.org