I have the unique privilege to host two very key panels at DesignCon 2015 in Santa Clara next week. Both panels will be on Thursday afternoon January 29th.
The first is entitled WILL THE OPTICAL BACKPLANE EVER HAPPEN?
Located at Chiphead Theater, Thursday, January 29 from 2 PM to 2:40 PM

Optical delivers higher bandwidth and longer reach, but also at higher cost. We will review the opportunities and challenges for optical backplane as Moore's Law continues to drive for higher signaling rate.
There is a diverse, technical group of industry experts on the panel that will argue the pro and con aspects of the high speed optical backplane as well discuss where it stands in the industry right now. Here is the list of our renowned experts:
Hong Liu | Principal Engineer, Technical Infrastructure, Google
Jayaprakash Balachandran | Technical Leader, Engineering, Cisco Systems
John Monson | Vice President of Sales & Marketing, MoSys
Mario Paniccia | Fellow and General Manager (Silicon Photonics Solutions Group), Intel
Edward Priest | Distinguished Engineer, Juniper Networks
Please come join us and participate with your own thoughts about this controversial topic.
The second is entitled ARE YOU ADEQUATELY PROTECTING YOUR CIRCUIT DESIGNS?
Located in Ballroom A/B, Thursday, January 29 from 3:45 PM to 5:00 PM

Circuit protection is a critical part of every market that uses electrical energy, from consumer electronics to automobiles, commercial vehicles and industrial equipment. This part of a design is many times thought of at the end of the design process, but should be considered as one of the key elements to designing a robust and reliable electronic/electrical system. Attendees will learn the proper design methodology and thought process that a designer must go into in order to have a complete and fully functioning design system in place that will last through time and harsh conditions such as EMI, transient spikes and surges, lightning, over-voltage and over-current, reverse polarity and other potentially damaging conditions.
We have three industry experts on the panel, from different corners of the industry that will discuss the all-important aspects of protecting circuitry. Here is the list of our three renowned experts:
Bharat Shenoy | Director of Technical Marketing, Littelfuse, Inc.
Adrian Mikolajczak | Product Portfolio Mgmt, Fairchild Semiconductor
Barry Brents | Field Application Engineering Manager, TE Circuit Protection
Please come join us and participate with your own thoughts about this design-critical topic.
You will not be disappointed with either of these panel discussions.
What is your opinion on the Optical Backplane?
How do you protect your circuitry?
Want to learn more? Register now for DesignCon, the premier conference for chip, board, and systems design engineers. Taking place January 27-30 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, DesignCon 2015 will feature technical paper sessions, tutorials, industry panels, product demos, and exhibits.
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The Optical Backplane shown in this post is really interesting to me, it's a possible solution for a network of photonics on silicon hybrid systems having multiple features, with a dramatically increased bandwidth and communication speed.
“design system in place that will last through time and harsh conditions such as EMI, transient spikes and surges, lightning, over-voltage and over-current, reverse polarity and other potentially damaging conditions.”
That's a really hot point , especially today that ICs are utilized to realize sensors that may operate in really hard environments, like the space, a volcano, the sea etc…