Organisers and delegates at Next Generation Optical Networking 2014 in the French city of Nice have declared the event 'a grand success'.
More than 600 delegates – considerably more than at last year's event – made their way to the Acropolis convention and exhibition centre in the heart of the city. Aside from a packed programme of debates, visitors were able to meet a wide range of service providers in the exhibition hall to discuss the latest products and trends in optical networking.
Several delegates and exhibitors commented to Fibre Systems that they were pleased the event had been moved back to the city of Nice after several years in the principality of Monaco.
Ciena's Mervyn Kelly, for example, said: It has certainly been a very positive show for us – attendance has definitely been up, and what we are saying has definitely been resonating with delegates and the companies that we are dealing with.'
Stefan Rettenberger, of ADVA Optical Networking, added: 'It's great to be back in Nice – connectivity between data centres has definitely been the hot topic as far as we are concerned, and we have been very much encouraged by conversations we've been having with visitors.'
Event director Jane Watson, of IIR Telecom, confirmed that attendance was up by around 25 per cent on the previous year – even if many delegates did not confirm their attendance until late in the day. She concluded: 'We are delighted that WDM2014 has been a great success and we are already looking forward to making next year's event even better.'
