The electronic piece will get smaller while the optical portion will get larger. No matter what, electronics and optics will co-exist for some time to come. As more and more optical components are used, and as the need to integrate the optical components increases, the techniques and technologies developed in the semiconductor and interconnection fields will play larger and larger roles. At the present, the optical components business is at the stage where electronic components were 50 years ago. Discrete components and subassemblies require a great deal of manual labor and the industry is crying out for automation.
Optical systems are more complex than electrical systems.
They require larger numbers and much faster interconnections. The objective of the conference is to show how electronics manufacturing is complementary to optical network manufacturing. Granted that Optical Networks have special characteristics, but there is much that the optical folks can learn from those in electronics, especially when it comes to automation and large scale manufacturing. One of the objectives of the conferences will be to point out the similarities and differences and how one can help the other. 200 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, MA 02125.