OFC, the world’s largest annual conference and exhibition for optical communications and networking professionals, will again feature multivendor interoperability demonstrations of the products and solutions enabling next-generation fiber-optic communications infrastructure.
At the exhibition held March 10 – 12 at the San Diego Convention Center, OFC cites itself as representing "the entire optical communications ecosystem—from research to marketplace, from components to systems and networks—and provid[ing] a platform for leading organizations to demonstrate interoperability trends and developments in optical communications that are critical to advancing the industry."
“As we look to the next generation of optical communications, interoperability remains a central factor for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and continued growth in network capacity,” contends Robert Doverspike, Network Evolution Strategies, LLC, USA, and OFC general co-chair. “These demonstrations will help to explore the steps being taken to drive that vision to reality.”
Technologies featured in next month's OFC exhibition demos, as enumerated by the association, will include: 400ZR, 400G Open ZR+, OpenROADM, Common Electrical I/O (CEI)-112G, FlexE, IC-TROSA, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), 25GbE, 50GbE, 100GbE, 200GbE and 400GbE and 400G on-board optical modules.
Interoperability demonstrations will be located throughout the exhibit floor with approximately five demo booths. Details on the demonstrations are as follows:
400G Open ZR+ Coherent Transceiver Demo – Booth #6049
This demonstration shows live interoperability of pluggable 400G modules by multiple vendors from the proposed OpenZR+ MSA industry consortium. The modules support multiple data rates and enable longer reach (by several hundreds of km) than typical metro data center interconnections, with higher gain SD-FEC (oFEC) standardized in OpenROADM and proposed in the MSA. In this demonstration, the coded 400Gbps DP-16QAM optical signals are transmitted from one vendor’s module, traverse through optical fiber, and are received by another vendor’s module. This demonstration is coordinated by NTT Device Innovation Center and Network Innovation Laboratories.
OpenROADM MSA SDN Demo – Booth #6149
In this demo, shown is a large optical ROADM mesh (Open- ROADM MSA compliant) and dynamic SDN-Controlled Wavelength is turned up and down (also conforming to the Open- ROADM MSA). In the demo, there will be at least six different equipment suppliers showcasing their OpenROADM MSA compliant ROADMs, transponders and flexponders. The display will use the OpenROADM open source SDN Controller called Transport-PCE from the OpenDaylight distribution. The University of Texas, Dallas, will show two high-performance computing orchestrator use cases over this OpenROADM network, doing load transfers between data centers and data center backups on demand.
OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum) Demos – Booth #6221
This year at OFC, OIF will host one of the largest interoperability demos in its history –" a reflection of its enduring leadership and the significance of its work," says the consortium. In the demo, 20 member companies will demonstrate and collaborate on, in both live and static demos, the solutions that are addressing today’s global network challenges, including: 400ZR, Common Electrical I/O (CEI)-112G, FlexE (Flex Ethernet) and IC-TROSA. Additional information can be found at https://www.oiforum.com/meetings-events/oif-ofc-2020/.
The Ethernet Alliance Live Interoperability Ethernet Demos – Booth #4943
The Ethernet Alliance will display an interoperable multivendor next-gen technology demo at OFC 2020. The interactive demo encompasses 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), 25GbE, 50GbE, 100GbE, 200GbE and 400GbE technologies and solutions from over 15 companies, ranging from interconnect providers, to switches and routers, to test and measurement equipment. The Ethernet Alliance will also showcase a live 400GbE infrastructure deployment connecting multiple booths on the show floor.
Consortium For On-Board Optics (COBO) Demos – Booth #5818
On its fifth anniversary, COBO is celebrating with the demonstration of 400G on-board optical modules interoperating with OSFP and QSFP-DD 400G optical modules, compliance boards for testing modules and hosts and new connector technologies in development. Members of COBO are featuring networking system and component products that demonstrate how key technologies interoperate within the industry’s ecosystem to enable moving optics inside the system whether through on-board optical modules or co-packaged optic mock-ups.
OFC is managed by The Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE ComSoc), and the IEEE Photonics Society. More than 15,000 executives, technical experts, academia, media and analysts from 65 countries are expected to converge at OFC to discuss the trending topics that are driving innovations in research, technologies and product solutions, including machine learning/artificial intelligence (AI), photonic integrated circuits, advanced digital-signal processing, quantum optics, emerging applications of optical networks in 5G, new computing and data center technologies.
Learn more at https://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/.