Jina Krause-Vilmar has made it her life’s work to give immigrants and refugees the opportunity to thrive, both economically and professionally. As president and CEO of Upwardly Global, she works to eliminate employment barriers for immigrant and refugee professionals.

Coherent optics have been the go-to solution for high-end optical transport systems for years. Eventually these optics were modularized and with recent advances in DSP design and optics manufacturing, this technology is now available in small form factor pluggable modules. Cisco recognized the importance of this technology and acquired the industry’s leader in this space, Acacia Communications in March of 2021. In Episode 21, we continue our conversation with Tom Williams, Director of Technical Marketing, who joined Cisco via the Acacia acquisition. We get into Acacia’s unique approach to making coherent optics. – Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager

Tom Williams leads marketing efforts for the Acacia coherent optics team that was acquired by Cisco in March 2021. Tom has spent over 20 years developing optical transmission equipment ranging from 10G to 1.2T. He participates in a variety of coherent standardization activities in OIF, IEEE and Open ROADM and is co-chair of the OpenZR+ MSA. Tom spent nearly 15 years in various management roles at Optium, where he participated in the company’s 2006 IPO and 2008 acquisition by Finisar. Tom joined Acacia in 2015, where his role has included corporate and product marketing responsibility, as well as contributing to product roadmap definitions.

Related links

Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/

Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop

Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/

Additional resources

Cisco Optics Podcast: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticspodcast Cisco Optics blogs: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog (subscribe at https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=CiscoOpticsBlog )

Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen

Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics

Timestamps

2:22 Acacia's uniqueness early on

5:45 Solving system problems efficiently

7:14 Advantages of silicon photonics in coherent optics

11:18 Components in early coherent products

13:05 Differences between silicon photonics and indium phosphide

integration

18:41 What is a PIC?

19:08 Power consumption of silicon photonics

Music credits Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

In this month’s episode we’re celebrating International Women’s Day 2022 (8th March). Collette and Rosie will be chatting to Wendy Mars (President of Cisco EMEAR) about her career journey and being a successful female leader at Cisco – as well as cheese sandwiches and her search for a new canine companion. Keen to get a different perspective on IWD, Collette and Rosie also have a chat with Shane Heraty (Managing Director, Cisco Scotland & Ireland) about the importance of building a diverse team, challenging the status quo and what it’s like being a dad to daughters in today’s world.

Coherent optics have been the go-to solution for high-end optical transport systems for years. Eventually these optics were modularized and with recent advances in DSP design and optics manufacturing, this technology is now available in small form factor pluggable modules. Cisco recognized the importance of this technology and acquired the industry’s leader in this space, Acacia Communications in March of 2021. In Episode 20, we start a new conversation with Tom Williams, Director of Technical Marketing, who joined Cisco via the Acacia acquisition. We begin our conversation with Tom’s background and the types of problems they solved at Acacia. – Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager

Tom Williams leads marketing efforts for the Acacia coherent optics team that was acquired by Cisco in March 2021. Tom has spent over 20 years developing optical transmission equipment ranging from 10G to 1.2T. He participates in a variety of coherent standardization activities in OIF, IEEE and Open ROADM and is co-chair of the OpenZR+ MSA. Tom spent nearly 15 years in various management roles at Optium, where he participated in the company’s 2006 IPO and 2008 acquisition by Finisar. Tom joined Acacia in 2015, where his role has included corporate and product marketing responsibility, as well as contributing to product roadmap definitions.

Related links

Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/

Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop

Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/

Additional resources

Cisco Optics Podcast: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticspodcast Cisco Optics blogs: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog (subscribe at https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=CiscoOpticsBlog )

Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen

Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics

Timestamps

2:28 Optium days

7:15 Finisar acquisition of Optium

10:34 Joining Acacia

16:05 Problem solving

Music credits Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Off the heels of the Explore Security 2022 Virtual Summit, AB sat down with Janey Hoe, Vice President Corporate Development and Cisco Investments, and Dug Song, Chief Strategy Officer, Cisco Security, for a candid and insightful conversation into cybersecurity trends ranging from investment and acquisitions to innovation, all with a focus on achieving Cisco’s mission to power a more inclusive future for all.

Anushka Ratnayake is on a mission to empower smallholder farmers. The organization she founded, myAgro, is reaching more than 100,000 farmers in three countries with a unique mobile layaway platform that is reducing poverty and increasing food security.

Former teacher Michelle Brown is on a mission to improve reading and writing skills for children around the globe. That's why she created CommonLit, an education technology non-profit that has grown to reach 80,000 schools in the United States and over 20,000,000 users worldwide.

In this kick-off episode for Season 3 of TechBeat, AB sits down for a chat with Liz Centoni, Cisco’s very own EVP, Chief Strategy Officer and GM, Applications, who has a passion for innovation, customer experience, and technology. Liz gives great insight into her childhood; who her greatest influencers were; experiences that led her to join Cisco over 20 years ago; and why she still remains passionate about the work she and her team at Cisco do every day.

If you want to make a positive impact through innovation, then Cisco is the place to be! In the latest episode of Cisco CX EMEAR: Unplugged Phil Wolfenden is joined by Michal Kowalik, Paulina Klosinska and Vladimir Joshevski, innovators who are at the forefront of innovation within Cisco CX. They discuss the importance of innovation and its impact at our company, customers, partners, and society. Listen to the Innovate Everywhere episode with Phil Wolfenden and Carlos Pignataro here: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/innovate-everywhere

Will 5G erase 3G and 4G? What happens inside a telecom tower, and what are the cell site's hardware and software? What is the role of Network Automation to realize a 5G Network? What are the emerging avenues/trends in 5G? How does 5G drive innovation and vice-versa? Tune in to the third part of a multiple-episode series on 5G with the podcast host, Shaun Roberts [ Cisco Principal Engineer], in conversation with Ankush Arora [Cisco Principal Engineer] and Subodh Gajare [Cisco Senior Architect] to answer some of these questions.

LinkedIn Profiles:

Ankush Arora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankush-arora-a3829417/

Subodh Gajare: https://www.linkedin.com/in/subodhgajare/

Shaun Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srobertsmba/