In our OFC preview issue last year, we ran a cover story on some of the new and unfamiliar companies we thought you might run into on the show floor and meeting rooms. I didn’t have much trouble thinking of companies to cover, which made the story straightforward to write.
Move forward about eight months later, and I’m participating in a conference call with other members of the Optica Executive Forum program committee. We decide we want to inaugurate a startup panel, so we all go off to dig up potentially interesting new companies.
I’m telling you, they’re everywhere. We came up with a list of at least 15 companies in the optical communications and optical computing fields that we considered startups – plus a few more that had been around too long to meet our requirements but were still in the research and initial product development phase.
You’ll likely have a chance to check out several of them at OFC. (I of course invite you to discover which ones we picked by attending the Optical Executive Forum on March 6 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.) There’s a lot going on in optical processors as well as in miniaturization and integration. Not all of these companies will make it – but I expect some will help shape optical communications in the future.
The allure of the new is always powerful. In fact, one of my fellow committee members left his job this week to go work for a startup. Apparently, innovation is contagious.