By STEPHEN HARDY, Lightwave -- OFC 2020 remains scheduled to take place March 8-12, 2020, in San Diego, despite the declaration of a state of emergency in California and continued cancellations among exhibit hall and conference participants. A few ancillary programs will not be held.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus on March 4. The declaration is intended, in the words of a press release, “to make additional resources available, formalize emergency actions already underway across multiple state agencies and departments, and help the state prepare for broader spread of COVID-19.”
At this time, it’s not expected that the heightened alert will put limitations on travel or public gatherings.
Nevertheless, dozens of companies across the optical communications spectrum, including both technology vendors and users, have announced that they will not attend the show. The resultant loss of attendees and speakers has caused the cancellation of several programs scheduled to be held in association with OFC.
Among the casualties are the March 8 OIDA Workshop on Embedded Photonic Manufacturing for Data Centers, the March 9 OIDA Executive Forum, and the Broadband Forum’s BASe “2020 PON Reality Check” seminar originally slated for March 11.
In place of the Workshop and Executive Forum, the OIDA will hold a reception March 9 from 5:30 pm to 7 pm in the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Sapphire Foyer. The reception will feature a market update presentation led by the OIDA’s Tom Hausken. The reception is open to OIDA Workshop attendees, OIDA Executive Forum attendees, and OIDA members.
The Broadband Forum said it hopes to present a series of webinars featuring the speakers who would have been part of the BASe event. Other programs still scheduled for the exhibit floor are known to be scrambling for replacement speakers.
However, it appears the “Celebrating 50 Years of Light-speed Connections” program will be held as scheduled, including the keynote March 10 by Infinera’s David Welch. Welch will appear despite the fact that his company has pulled out of the exhibition.
Meanwhile, companies who have shelved their exhibit plans are seeking ways to demonstrate their technologies to existing and potential customers. MACOM, for example, has announced that it will live stream demonstration presentations between March 8 and 12.
Lightwave will host a webinar March 18 featuring companies that have changed their exhibit plans as well.
STEPHEN HARDY is Editorial Director and Associate Publisher of Cabling Installation & Maintenance's sister publication, Lightwave, a chronicler of the optical telecommunications industry.