Nexus Media Events, the organiser of the exhibition at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC),  has appointed the highest profile line-up of industry experts yet, in order to form an Advisory Committee for the Market Focus seminars which proved so successful last year.  The committee will include representatives from telecom operators, system vendors, component manufacturers, industry analyst groups, independent industry bodies, and will represent the breadth of technologies in the optical communications space.

The  committee members have been confirmed as Stephen Neidlinger from ADVA, Chris Clarke from Oclara, Philippe Chanclou from France Telecom, Joeri Van Bogaert from Leoni, Michael Lebby from the OIDA, Daryl Inniss from Ovum, Glenn Wellbrock from Verizon, Shoichi Hanatini from Hitachi, Hartwig Tauber from the FTTH Council Europe and Pauline Rigby, the highly respected telecoms and technology writer.  The role of the committee will be to shape the technical and business driven content of the Market Focus Seminars, taking place during the ECOC exhibition.  The committee will be chaired by Per Danielsen, a former ECOC secretary general with 27 years of experience in the optical communications industry and current editor of Telekommunikation, Denmark’s only magazine dedicated to Telecommunications.

“We have assembled a committee of outstanding industry representatives, possibly the strongest ever, who provide a truly expert view into all aspects of the optical communications space,” said Mr Danielsen.  “Coming from Europe and North America, the committee includes some of the most innovative and forward-thinking companies working in optics today; the quality of the Market Focus Seminars at ECOC 2010 will reflect this high profile panel.”

The ECOC Market Focus is now in its fifth year, and has previously featured speakers from France Telecom, BT, Ericsson, ADVA, Ciena, Tellabs, The Broadband Forum, Ovum, Bookham and JDSU. Last year’s event broke all records, with nearly 900 leading industry executives taking part, covering topics including 40G and 100G Ethernet, Optical Network Agility and the role of optical communications in Green Telecoms and Mass Market Broadband Fibre Access.

This year’s subjects, and a call for papers, will be issued within the next few weeks with a projected deadline of June 1.

The ECOC exhibition and conference is being held this year at the Lingotto Congress and Exhibition Centre in Torino, Italy, from September 19-23.