NFOEC Technical Submissions

The NFOEC technical program aims to disseminate the latest information about the application and deployment of fiber optic communications technologies. NFOEC's target audience is comprised of people and companies that build, install, operate and maintain facilities-based optical communications networks. Program topics cover such diverse areas as network architecture, design and planning; installation of facilities and deployment of services; and near- to mid-term developments in optical communications equipment and components. Papers on these and related topics are sought from carriers and service providers, manufacturers and researchers throughout the industry. Although it originated as a US-focused conference, NFOEC has become an industry event, and submissions are welcomed from companies and organizations around the world.

The Difference Between OFC and NFOEC

At first sight, many of the topics covered at OFC and NFOEC appear to overlap (for example, both conferences solicit papers on devices, systems, networks and applications). However, OFC and NFOEC focus on these topics from the different perspectives associated with different audiences with different timescales.

When submitting papers to the OFC/NFOEC conference, it is important to recognize the following:

NFOEC provides feedback to the network operator community with a shorter-term relevance. This means that submissions to NFOEC should focus on the near- to mid-term needs of engineering and operating a network, where they are or will become commercially viable in a short timeframe.
OFC provides feedback to the R&D community with a longer-term relevance. This means that submissions to OFC should focus on fundamental and evolving topics that one would expect to take a few years before becoming commercially viable.

Authors should keep the following considerations in mind when preparing and submitting technical papers and presentation materials to NFOEC 2011.

All papers that are submitted to NFOEC are evaluated on a variety of criteria including: the promise of substantive technical content, relevance to the NFOEC audience, originality and clarity of the material, level of detail, and evidence supporting any claims. Putting the work in context is especially important for incremental advances in mature fields. Submissions that are little more than product announcements or promotional material with minimal technical detail will be rejected.

Technological advancement, improved understanding of optical communications technologies, and the general maturity of optical fiber communications has increased the expectations for high-quality papers. The NFOEC Technical Program Committee will look closely at submitted summaries to ensure that papers accepted for the program represent new information of practical value to the conference attendees. Committee members bring a broad range of expertise, experience, and industry leadership to their roles and they are committed to organizing a high-quality technical program.

All technical information contained in the summary should be approved for public distribution by all controlling organizations. NFOEC is a public forum for the exchange of information. For all reasonable questions (including technical detail), presenters are encouraged to have answers approved for distribution prior to the presentation. Authors not interested in discussing their work with attendees in a conference setting are encouraged to submit their work to other forums.

Papers accepted for presentation during the NFOEC 2011 technical sessions will be published in the OFC/NFOEC Technical Digest and may be referenced for other publications. Papers appearing in the Technical Digest should not have been published previously in substantially the same form, and may not be published subsequently in industry journals or other forums. Papers presented at the conference will also be available on OSA’s Optics InfoBase and IEEE Xplore after the conference.

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