OFC 2026 plenary speakers address AI, advances in optical technologies and satellite communications

(Press-News.org) LOS ANGELES – The 2026 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC), the premier global event for optical communications and networking, will be held 15 – 19 March 2026, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, USA.

The centerpiece of the conference’s technical program is the Plenary Session, which will feature four industry luminaries: Alexis Bjorlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager for DGX Cloud, NVIDIA, USA; Julie Sheridan Eng, Chief Technology Officer, Coherent, USA; Siegbert Martin, Chief Technology Officer, Tesat-Spacecom, Germany; and Gilad Shainer, Senior Vice President of Networking, NVIDIA, USA.

“As demands on bandwidth continue to accelerate, there has never been a greater urgency to build sustainable, high-capacity networks to power our digital future, said OFC General Co-Chair Jiajia Chen, ByteDance, USA. “Our plenary speakers each focus on key technologies that are transforming global connectivity: the use of AI-driven network architectures; advances in optical technologies for hyperscale datacenters; and laser-based communications between satellites.”

Plenary Talks

Scaling the Optical Future: Optical Technologies Driving AI, Datacenters and Communications Networks

Presented by Julie Sheridan Eng, Chief Technology Officer, Coherent, USA

In her talk, Dr. Sheridan Eng will examine market dynamics and key technological advances in lasers and modulators, transceivers, co-packaged optics and optical circuit switches enabling higher bandwidth density and energy efficiency within the datacenter. She will also highlight advances in coherent optics and transport technologies that are enabling scalable, high-capacity datacenter interconnect (DCI) and communications networks. Prior to becoming CTO at Coherent, Dr. Sheridan Eng served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Optoelectronic Devices and Modules Business Unit. Previously, she held various senior management positions at Finisar Corporation. Over the 15 years she managed datacom transceiver engineering, her teams achieved numerous industry firsts and production-released hundreds of fiber optic transceiver products.

“Dr. Julie Sheridan Eng is a highly-esteemed and recognized figure within the OFC community, and Coherent has long been a valued partner to and supporter of our conference,” said General Co-Chair Johannes Fischer, Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz Institute, Germany. “We anticipate greatly her insights on how innovations in hardware solutions will meet the increasing performance demands necessary for AI, datacenters and networks.”

Revolutionizing Networking for Gigawatt AI Factories

Co-presented by: Alexis Bjorlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager for DGX Cloud, NVIDIA, USA; and Gilad Shainer, Senior Vice President of Networking, NVIDIA, USA

This shared talk from two NVIDIA leaders first reinforces that training at the future million-GPU scale requires significant advancements in compute, memory (scale-up) and networking (both scale-up and scale-out) — and that this human-like iterative inferencing requires extremely low latencies and reduced energy consumption per answer. The talk then addresses how these massive networking challenges are being addressed by optical innovations including CPO, with micro-ring modulators, 3D-stacked silicon photonics engines, high-power lasers and detachable fiber connectors.

Dr. Bjorlin is Senior Vice President and General Manager for DGX Cloud at NVIDIA. Prior to NVIDIA, she was Vice President of Infrastructure at Meta; Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom Optical Systems Division; and Corporate Vice President of the Data Center Group and General Manager of the Connectivity Group at Intel. Gilad Shainer’s role as Senior Vice President of Networking at NVIDIA focuses on high-speed InfiniBand, NVLINK and Ethernet networking, high-performance computing and AI platforms. He came to NVIDIA from Mellanox, where he worked first as a design engineer and later in senior marketing management roles.

“We are thrilled to welcome two leaders from NVIDIA, a company almost synonymous with artificial intelligence,” said General Co-Chair Tetsuya Hayashi, Sumitomo Electric, Japan. “Their shared talk will illustrate the evolution beyond a typical hyperscale datacenter: a network stitched together from GPUs operating as a single unit, and using a layered-design architecture with leading technologies like co-packaged optics.” 

Optical Networks in Space — From Technology to Application

Presented by: Siegbert Martin, Chief Technology Officer, Tesat-Spacecom, Germany

Dr. Martin’s talk asserts that optical networks in space are becoming a substantial, resilient solution for worldwide communication — serving either as a backup solution to terrestrial data networks or as an independent extension. He will discuss how significantly lower launch costs and other developments are leading to the deployment of satellite constellations of unprecedented scale, and the advantages and challenges of laser-based communications between satellites over conventional RF links. Dr. Martin’s career has been concentrated in terrestrial and satellite communication networks, spanning microwave and optical technologies. Prior to becoming CTO at Tesat-Spacecom, he held positions at Bosch Telecom, Marconi and Ericsson.

“The cost to launch satellites has long been a primary constraint for the satellite communications industry,” said General Co-Chair Jiajia Chen. “With lower launch costs, optical communications networks can now be extended not just undersea, but space. We are genuinely excited to hear Dr. Siegbert Martin discuss this next ‘giant leap’ in how the world communicates.”

The OFC Plenary Session will be presented on Tuesday, 17 March 2026, from 08:00 – 10:00 PDT (UTC -07:00).

Registration to attend OFC is open.

About OFC

The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) is the world’s largest event for optical communications and networking professionals — a showcase for the trends and technologies that impact how the world communicates and transacts. It is the locus for scientific visionaries and the industry’s biggest brands to make connections and move business forward. For more than 50 years, participants from all corners of the globe have been drawn to OFC by its high-impact, peer-reviewed research, dynamic business programs and the world’s largest in-person exhibition for optical communications.

OFC is co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc) and the IEEE Photonics Society and co-sponsored and managed by Optica.

OFC takes place 15 – 19 March 2026, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California, USA. Learn more at OFCConference.org or follow @OFCConference on LinkedIn and X.

Media Contact

media@ofcconference.org

END