SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 20 — The IEEE Photonics Society will hold the fourth annual Optical Interconnects Conference on 20 – 22 April 2015 at the Wyndham San Diego Bayside Hotel in San Diego, CA. Established more than 25 years ago as the Workshop on Interconnections within High Speed Digital Systems, the conference will bring together the optical industry’s foremost engineers and researchers in advanced connection technologies that cover the spectrum of on-chip interconnects to enterprise-wide communications networks.

More than 80 technical presentations, including invited talks as well as refereed papers and poster sessions will cover the latest innovations in a wide range of interconnect challenges, from network systems, subsystems, architectures, applications and devices, with an exploration of future petascale and exascale platforms in supercomputers and datacenters as the industry develops the interconnect technology needed for a more self-aware next generation platform.

A special feature of this years’ Optical Interconnects Conference (OI Conference 2015) will be an evening panel discussion entitled “Optical Interconnects Supply Chain in 2020: Who Owns the Interface?” The panelists – recognized experts from industry and academia – will bring different views to create thought-provoking exchanges and engage in this exciting technical discussion.

“This year’s Optical Interconnects Conference will continue to foster the collaboration required to drive new optical interconnect technologies and architectures from research labs to commercial realities, with an interchange of ideas between government agencies, academia, semiconductor manufacturers and information technology companies,” said Azita Emami and Xuezhe Zheng, OI Conference 2015 General Co-Chairs. “A new feature at this year’s conference will be the evening panel session on the challenges envisioned for the Optical Interconnects Supply Chain in 2020.”

Plenary sessions for the OI Conference 2015 include: 

• High-Speed and Energy-Efficient Long-Wavelength VCSELs by Markus Amann, Technische Universität München, Germany
• Memory Connectivity Architecture in High Throughput Systems by J. Thomas Pawlowski, Micron Technology, Inc., USA
• There will also be a plenary session presented by Andrew Alduino, Intel Corporation, USA

Invited speakers for the OI Conference 2015 include: 

• Silicon Photonics for Optical Connectivity: Small Footprint with Large Dimensions by Timo Aalto, VTT, Finland
• Outlooks for Energy Efficiency of Optoelectronic Interfaces in Scaled FinFET & SOI CMOS Technologies by James Buckwalter, University of California-San Diego, USA
• DWDM Silicon Photonic Transceivers for Optical Interconnect by Chin-Hui Chen HP Labs, USA
• High Channel Count DFB Laser Array with Precise Channel Spacing for Future PICs Based on REC Technique by Xiangfei Chen, Nanjing University, China
• 100GbE, 400GbE, VCSELs vs. Si Photonics by Chris Cole, Finisar, USA
• Packaging Solutions for Optical Interconnects by Paul Fortier, IBM, Canada
• Hybrid Electro- Optical Solutions for Sensing and High-Speed Connectivity by Ali Hajimiri, Caltech, USA
• FPGAs with Integrated Photonics by Mike Peng Li, Altera, USA
• Silicon Photonic Traveling Wave Modulators for 100G/400G Short Reach Interconnects by David V. Plant McGill University, Canada
• Efficient Optical Interconnect Architecture for HPC & Data Center Systems by Herb Schwetman, Oracle Labs, USA
• Limitations & Future Directions for High-Speed Electrical Links by Thomas Toifl, IBM, Switzerland

The advance conference program is available online at: http://www.oi-ieee.org/documents/OI-2015-Advance-Program-3-19-15.pdf.

Evening Panel Discussion: Optical Interconnects Supply Chain in 2020: Who Owns the Interface?

Today’s optical interconnect supply chain for server, data center, datacom, and telecommunications equipment is based on clear separation of the optical interconnect role (transceivers) from the information processing role (functional chips). The transceivers comprise optoelectronics, opto-mechanics, and signal integrity elements, which collectively perform the transmission of data. The functional chips comprise ASICs and FPGAs, including hardware and IP-cores, which perform processing of information.

Many research papers and industry publications suggest that a tighter relationship between these optical I/O and functional chips is beginning to emerge in the next 5 years. Yet, today there are few practical demonstrations of this tighter relationship in optical interconnects, although type of integrated supply chain is well established in the electronic interconnect world.

The questions that the panel will address are:

• How far and how soon will the optical interface and the functional chips become coupled, if at all?
• Which markets (if any) will be early adopters, and which will lag?
• How will this change (if any) affect the supply chain for optical interconnects and functional chips, in the 2020 timeframe?

The OI Conference 2015 program also features a manufacturer’s exhibition.

For registration and other information about OI Conference 2015, visit http://www.oi-ieee.org/.

About the IEEE Photonics Society

The IEEE Photonics Society is one of the world’s leading technical communities in the field of optoelectronics and photonic materials, devices, and systems, with members and activities engaged in research, development, design, manufacture, and applications, as well as with the various other activities necessary for the useful expansion of the field. As part of this dynamic worldwide community, more than 100,000 photonics professionals actively organize, contribute to, and participate in Society technical conferences, journals and other activities covering all aspects of the field. The IEEE Photonics Society has 75+ worldwide chapters and is part of IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association. The IEEE Photonics Society (IPS) is the new name for the former IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS). Learn more at: http://www.photonicssociety.org.

About IEEE

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, is dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Learn more at: http://www.ieee.org.

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Source: IEEE