Executive Forum at OFC 2026

Optica's Executive Forum is a 1-day program featuring a keynote session, panel presentations, CEO Panel, a business fireside chat, and many in-person networking opportunities.

Scale Across Data Center Networks

Scale-across is a new term in the industry (at least new since last OFC) and the intent would be to provide some education and insight into how it is different than scale-out on one side and traditional DCI on the other. 
 
It’s not totally clear that everyone is using the term in the same way, so I think there is value to have end user perspective to explain what it means for their use cases. One particular area of interest may be what kind of distances do the end users consider for their scale-across applications. 
 
From a vendor perspective, I think it’s useful to look at this from both an optical perspective as well as discussing how the IP layer manages the latency when scaling across multiple locations. For optics, what kind of interfaces do we expect to be utilized for this connectivity?

Scale Out Data Center Networks 

Scale-out networks sit at the economic center of optical interconnects, driving the vast majority of current industry volume - bridging scale-up and scale-across architectures. Defined by a broad, interoperable ecosystem—and relentless pressure on bandwidth, power, and cost—they are also increasingly shaped by supply-chain resilience and capacity.

As new lane speeds and modulation schemes move from roadmap to deployment, scale-out links are where technologies must prove not only performance, but manufacturability at scale.

This panel convenes leaders from systems, components, and devices to examine what’s next, and what will set the pace for the industry.

Breakthrough Technology

The breakthrough technology panel is an opportunity to hear from early-stage, high-valuation companies that are innovating to overcome significant and specific challenges in optical networking.

Each panelist will deliver a brief presentation regarding their technology and approach. A moderated question and answer session will follow the individual presentations.

Fireside Chat with CTOs

This exclusive fireside chat features leading technology professionals from across the optical communications ecosystem. In this candid, moderator-led discussion, technology executives will share firsthand perspectives on the technology inflection points shaping the future of optical networks, from AI-driven infrastructure demands and co-packaged optics to scalability, sustainability, and time-to-market challenges.

Designed for senior executives and technical leaders, this interactive session goes beyond prepared remarks to explore real-world decision-making, strategic tradeoffs, and lessons learned at the highest levels of innovation. Attendees will gain valuable insights into how top organizations are aligning long-term technology roadmaps with business strategy in an increasingly complex and competitive landscape.

CEO Panel

The CEO Panel explores firsthand the diverse perspectives these accomplished CEOs from public companies in the optical communication market as they discuss how they've navigated their organizations through change and uncertainty. Learn about what are the challenges and opportunities ahead and what keeps them awake at night.

Scale Up Data Center Networks

This panel explores the critical role of photonics in scaling AI datacenter networks to meet the demands of next-generation training and inference. Industry leaders from Cloud operators, IC and system companies will discuss how optical interconnects are reshaping scale-up architectures, enabling higher bandwidth, lower latency, and improved energy efficiency across racks and clusters. Topics include co-packaged optics, optical fabrics, integration challenges, and the tradeoffs between electrical and optical approaches. The discussion will highlight real-world deployment experiences, technology roadmaps, and the ecosystem collaboration required to unlock a high-performance, cost-effective, reliable and scalable AI infrastructure.