Executive Forum Program

Executive Forum Program

The 2016 program features panels, presentations, fireside chats and networking events that provide a unique opportunity for executives in the optical networking and communications business to learn from and connect with industry peers who are implementing solutions and addressing issues much like their own. Check back frequently for program updates as additional speakers are being confirmed.

Executive Forum Schedule

Executive Forum Panels

Panel 1: SDN and White Boxes: The Recipe for Unicorns or Niches and Profitless Promises?
SDN enables a shift to “white box” switches, especially in the data center.  But what is the motivation for extending open networking concepts to the optical layer?  Will open line systems be widely adopted in long-distance, regional and metro optical networking systems? What are the motivations and application scenarios?  Will there be open standards, or customer driven control solutions?  Does the operator see justification for taking on the role of systems integrator in “white box ROADMs”?

Speakers:

Jim Brinksma, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Blue Planet, a division of Ciena

Walter Jankovic, Senior Vice President, Communications and ISP Markets, Celestica

Madhu Krishnaswamy, Director, Product Line Management, Lumentum

Guru Parulkar, Executive Director, Open Networking Lab

William Walker, Director of Network Architecture, CenturyLink

Panel 2: Is Integrated Photonics Finally Turning the Corner?
Integrated photonics is gaining attention as a next-generation solution for interconnects in data centers, telecom networks, and new applications in avionics and biosensors.  But how much is really shipping?  Why is it taking so long to commercialize?  Where is the threshold beyond which integrated photonics is necessary, is it 100G?  How many candidate companies are realistically in the race?  When will the market really take off?  This panel will explore the business prospects for integrated photonics as this important time.  

Speakers:

Mehdi Asghari, Vice President, Silicon Photonics R&D, Mellanox

Chris Cole, Director, Transceiver Engineering, Finisar

Flavio Benetti, DMA Division General Manager, STMicroelectronics

Daryl Inniss, Director, New Business Development, OFS
 

Panel 3: The Coming Disruption in Metro Networks Driven by the Revolution in Data Center Interconnections (DCI)
This panel explores the changes in metro networks from the growth in data center traffic.  What are the prospects for the emerging category of coherent DWDM products for data center interconnects?  Will the integration of pluggable coherent optical modules into data center Ethernet switches eliminate the need for separate DCI transport systems? How valuable is fiber in the metro DCI application? Could the future interconnect market be well served by 100G/400G client optics modules with extended reach on a big, fat optical cable? How about the future WDM direct-detect single wavelength transceivers?  What is the value of spectral efficiency, and will 64QAM coherent prove the best choice for short interconnect distances?

Speakers:

Tom Issenhuth, Optical Network Architect, Microsoft Azure Networking

Christophe Metivier, Vice President, Manufacturing and Platform Engineering, Artista Networks

Andrew Schmitt, Founder and Analyst, Cignal AI


Panel 4: Optics Inside the Datacenter - Is COBO the Next Big Thing or Just Another Thing?
The Consortium for On-Board Optics—COBO—was announced at OFC2015.  Is the market for interconnects about to shift from pluggable transceivers to on-board optics?  Are both approaches able to keep pace with the capacity of next generations switching ASICs?  What is the perspective of data center operators on a shift from pluggable transceivers to on-board optics?  What is the perspective of module suppliers on a shift from pluggable transceivers to on-board optics?  Are they less vulnerable to customer churn once a design is completed?

Adam Carter, Chief Commercial Officer, Oclaro

Brad Booth, Prinicipal Architect, Azure Networking, Microsoft

Thomas Giunta, Sr. Director, Product Management, Optics, TE Connectivity

Rob Stone, Technical Director, Broadcom Limited

Fireside Chat: The Evolving Optical Supply Chain for Data Centers
The optical landscape in the DC has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. Large cloud operators are engaging module suppliers directly as they separate optical interconnect purchase decisions from hardware purchases, or in some cases design their own hardware. Also, webscale DC require capacity, reach and economics that are fundamentally different from those of enterprise data centers.  We expect this trend to only accelerate over the coming years with market research firms predicting that 50% of all servers will be in cloud DC in the next 2 to 3 years.

The changing market is requiring DC module vendors to change as well – module vendors are using a mix of vertical integration and merchant supply to meet the rapidly changing DC demands, they are balancing between assembling modules internally and through contact manufacturers, and recently we have seen a large player move in reverse towards becoming just a component/IC vendor from being a vertically integrated module vendor. Also, DSPs, which have been a key enabler of high speed transmission in the telco market are starting to find their way into the DC, creating opportunity for vendors with silicon expertise. Finally in the middle of all this change, there still remains a large enterprise data center market that requires evolutionary innovation rather than revolution.

This panel draws on the expertise of webscale operators, Tier 1 carriers and module and component/IC vendors to make sense of the changes in the last couple of years and understand potential future direction for the DC optics market.

Panelists:

Mitchell Fields, Vice President and General Manager, Broadcom Limited
Katharine Schmidtke, Optical Technology Strategy, Facebook
Chongjin Xie, Chief Optical Architect Network, Alibaba