OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan kicks off the OSA Executive Forum in Anaheim, which meets annually ahead of OFC/NFOEC to discuss the challenges facing the optics industry. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
The crowd filled up the room at the Hilton Anaheim, location of this year's meeting. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Pieter Poll, CenturyLink's Senior Vice President – National Network Planning, Engineering, and Construction, discussed what the service provider needs from its optical backbone. With carriers deploying 100G, it's worth asking what the next big technology transition will be and when it will arrive. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
New technology advances means that network costs are coming down as the slide subtly illustrates. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
The crowd was challenged by some of content here. As ever, the margin pressure in the components side is in stark contrast to the top carrier earnings and the flood of data hitting service provider networks. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
The Q&A sessions here get a bit lively. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Pilot Photonics' Stan Lumish asks a question during the Q&A session. [Ed. note: He's not working for the government anymore. Note the lack of an earpiece.] Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Verizon's Chief Technologist of Digital Media Services, Stuart Elby, presents some ideas on how Verizon is building a massively scalable network. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Verizon's Stu Elby fields a question during the Q&A session. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Coffee break! Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Ciena's Jamie Moody (right) wraps up some hallway conversations just before the next session starts. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Heavy Reading's Sterling Perrin (right) has a quick chat during the coffee break. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Light Reading's Craig Matsumoto isn't sure whether to talk or sip. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
The robots will see you now. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
Google's Milo Medin (far right) has a laugh during the set-up for the session on 1Gbit/s connectivity to the home. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.
The sky outside was a little gray and a lot cloudy. But at least we could see palm trees instead of snow drifts. Photo by Roman Cho/Getty Images.