The European Conference on Optical Communication returns this month, with the conference program running September 20 through 24 and the exhibition floor open a slightly shorter window, September 21 through 23, in Malaga, Spain.
ECOC is the biggest optical networking event in Europe, bringing together researchers, component makers, and network operators to compare notes on where fiber optic technology is headed next. The conference side of the event covers peer-reviewed research papers and technical workshops, while the exhibition floor is where component and systems vendors show working hardware to buyers.
This year’s exhibitor list leans hard into AI infrastructure. Avicena plans to demonstrate what it calls the first connectorized microLED optical interconnect built specifically for AI data centers, aimed at the short-reach, high-density links that connect GPU clusters to each other. Adtran, separately, is showing open optical networking gear as part of an interoperability demonstration organized by the Optical Internetworking Forum on the show floor, a format meant to prove that equipment from different vendors can actually work together in a live network rather than just on a spec sheet.
The AI buildout has turned optical interconnects into one of the more closely watched corners of networking hardware over the past couple of years. Moving data between GPUs fast enough has become its own bottleneck as AI training clusters have scaled up, and that has pulled a wave of new component makers and funding into a part of the networking stack that used to draw far less attention outside specialist trade press.
Malaga has hosted ECOC before, and the city’s convention center gives the show enough room to run technical sessions and the exhibition hall in parallel without attendees having to travel between venues.