Photonics Bretagne and 6 of its local members attended the Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC®) in California. This annual trade fair is the opportunity to showcase Lannion’s photonic excellence.
Lannion, the World’s Cradle of Telecommunication
In 1960, the Lannion-born Minister of Telecommunications Pierre Marzin, took advantage of decentralization policies to successfully push for the establishment of the National Telecommunication Research Centre (Centre national de recherche sur les télécommunications, CNET) in Lannion. This triggered the fast development of telecom innovation in Lannion and throughout the Trégor region. In 1962, the neighbouring town of Pleumeur-Bodou was the site of the first ever satellite transmission between the United States and Europe. Since then, Lannion has made a name for itself as the « Silicon Valley of Brittany ». Several major telecom companies are located in Lannion, such as France Télecom (now Orange) and Alcatel (now NOKIA), Sagem, Highwave Optical Technologies, Algety-Corvis and more recently Ekinops, Idea Optical, Bktel Photonics, EXFO, Lumibird, Exail and Ericsson.
The presence of a major local telecommunication industry led to the creation of a CNRS research laboratory (Institut FOTON), of an association to federate the sector, Photonics Bretagne (both a cluster and a technology platform), and of 3 technological schools in Lannion, giving degrees from undergraduate to PhD (Lycée Le Dantec, IUT, Enssat). The latter offer courses in computer science, photonics and digital systems.
Lannion Photonics Companies at OFC®, San Diego (USA)
Photonic technologies are exported all over the world and are regularly highlighted at various global events such as OFC®, held from March 5 to 9, 2023 in San Diego, California, USA.
OFC® is the world’s largest conference and exhibition for optical communications and networking professionals. The program is comprehensive – from research to commercial products, from components to systems and networks, and from technical sessions to the professional trade show.
A strong delegation from Lannion was exhibiting:
- Lumibird, specialist in laser technologies,
- Exail (formerly iXblue), specialist in robotics, marine, navigation, aerospace and photonics,
- BKtel Photonics, manufacturer of fibre amplifiers and fibre lasers,
- EXFO, manufacturer of smart test, monitoring and analysis solutions for the global communications industry,
- Photonics Bretagne, expert in specialty optical fibres and components.
Photonics Bretagne also met 3 other photonics actors from Lannion attending as visitors: Orange, Cailabs and Ekinops. In addition to representing the Breton photonics ecosystem, Photonics Bretagne also presented its own special optical fibre offer, as well as its range of low-latency hollow-core cables developed in collaboration with IDIL Fibres Optiques (much sought-after by the high-frequency trading industry, for example).
