OFC in Pictures

The OFC wraps up today and, though our hangovers have not yet worn off, we're pleased to present some of the sights of this year's show. (As usual, thanks to the ban on cameras on the show floor, it wasn't easy.) First, some observations:

Judging by the number of times we journalists were asked for our industry predictions, it's clear that the industry is in a perpetual state of status checking and is clueless as to what's coming next. (Why would we know? Aren't you the ones talking to service providers? Or maybe you're not and that's what you're letting on.)

Kamelian Ltd. CEO Paul May had it right: What the industry needs is fewer companies, not more. Yet, somehow, components companies littered the ground like confetti on New Year's morning.

But they do get credit for trying. As the smoky-voiced Wendell Weeks, president of Corning Inc.'s (NYSE: GLW) optical communications business, says, "The only people in telecom who look smart are those that didn't do anything – and that's not the way you win."

On the trade show floor, the companies were more subdued and the event much better organized than last year.