Communicating with light (i.e., photons) on fiber has allowed the Internet to grow from transmission rates of a few kilobits per second into the terabit age. Over the same period silicon-based integration proved its value in the realm of electronics by transforming the way integrated circuits are built and fueling technology advances that have led to the Internet and the Cloud. Today photonic integration is transforming the way the optical networks that enable the Internet and Cloud are built. December 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of commercial shipments of long-haul optical networking solutions based on the world’s first large scale photonic integrated circuit.

This webinar briefly chronicles the evolution of photonic integration, the state of the art of photonic integration and future directions for this technology. We cover how these chips are designed and manufactured, why they are so incredibly reliable, and ultimately how they are integrated into a complete transport network architecture. We also look at the market opportunities for this technology in an Internet that is increasingly driven by Cloud-based architectures.