Photonics - General Science

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2017 Roadmapping Forum Takes Shape

Michael Lebby, a well-known figure in the photonics community, is heavily involved in preparing the ground for an informed conversation.

“I expect the gathering in June in The Netherlands to explore the opportunities that we can't see today which will be commonplace in a decade. This long-term roadmapping discussion is essential for government, research and industry to work out where they want to invest precious finances in new technologies over the next 10-15 years.”

“This forum is very different from product roadmap discussions. The time line is much longer. Datacentre companies have been saying for the last few years that they want to achieve a cost structure of US$1 per Gigabit at 400 Gb/sec for a 2 km long fibre optic link. So, if you have a fibre optic link connecting two switches in a datacentre, then these companies are saying they only really want to pay US$400 to install a transmitter/receiver at either end.”

“If you put that data into a roadmap scenario and bring the experts together, then you start asking the question how can we get the technology to work and what needs to happen to bring the price down to US$1 per Gigabit and keep the customer happy. It may be that you hit a brick wall and achieving that goal is not achievable, but in doing so you will uncover a lot of interesting challenges.”

The organisers are now reaching out to bring a broad-range of senior photonics experts together in a trusted, non-competitive environment and let them interact with (potential) customers of their technologies. Good roadmaps pinpoint the most crucial technologies and define the key metrics which need to be achieved to pave the way for volume solutions.

“A decade from now we’re going to have sensors everywhere. They’ll measure a lot of things not possible today; air-quality, lifestyle, autonomous vehicles. And expect billions of sensors, each of which needs to be connected yet remain secure. How do we bring the costs down so they become ubiquitous? This is something that we need to get to grips with in the road-mapping discussion.”

https://picmagazine.net/article/101208/2017_roadmapping_forum_takes_shape/feature