Nortel Institute for Telecommunications of the University of Toronto




NIT Conferences, Workshops & Lectures
Event Archive - 2000



July 25, 26, 2000
Nortel Institute Professional Summer School

Impact of New Technologies on the Telecom Industry

Speakers:

Nortel Networks Perspective
Claudine Simson, VP Disruptive
Technologies, Network and Business
Solutions, Nortel Networks

Disruptive Business Solutions
Merke Wernik, Director, Disruptive
Market and Business Solutions,
Nortel Networks

Disruptive Architecture I
Richard Vickers, Director,
Disruptive Network Solutions,
Nortel Networks

Disruptive Architecture II
Clifford Grossner, Manager,
Disruptive Network Service
Solutions, Nortel Networks

Industry Trends
Tony Yuen, Director, Masters
of Engineering in
Telecommunications Program
University of Toronto

Network Security
Brian O’Higgens, CTO, Entrust

Network Storage
John Brule, Director,
Optical Internet/Server Strategy,
Nortel Networks

Network Performance
Ted Sargent, Nortel Junior
Chair of Emerging Technologies,
University of Toronto

Regulatory Trends
Hudson Janish, Faculty of Law,
University of Toronto

Technology Trends
Alberto Leon-Garcia, Nortel Institute Chair in
Network Architecture and Services,
University of Toronto

This year’s theme was the impact of new technologies on the telecom industry, with special focus on disruptive business and architecture solutions that could potentially change the structure of the global telecommunication service provider industry as a whole. As in previous years, an overview of the current trends in the convergence of the various Information Technology (IT) industries, including computing and consumer electronics, was provided. A panel discussion included a debated the implications for the Canadian market.

The first day was structured around Nortel Networks’ recent work on assessing the recent development of new technologies and new architectures. Industry experts were brought in on the second day to zero in on three key areas of networking: network security, network storage and network performance.

For full schedule listing,
visit
www.nal.utoronto.ca/ExecCourses





June 1, 2000
NIT at Brain Gain 2000

The Nortel Institute for Telecommunications presented a poster as part of the Brain Gain 2000 symposium celebration of Ontario-based R&D successes. This was an important one-day symposium that brought together some of Ontario’s leading thinkers from the worlds of science, business, media and government to discuss the keys to competitiveness in the knowledge-based economy. Sponsored by the Ontario Research & Development Challenge Fund, the symposium featured high-level speakers that discussed the strategies businesses, research institutions and government can use to become more productive, create jobs and economic growth, and attract and retain the best and brightest talent.


WHEN:
Thursday June 1, 2000
11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

WHERE:
Metro Toronto Convention Centre


http://www.ontariochallengefund.com





May 29, 2000
NIT Distinguished Lecture Series & IEEE LEOS Distinguished Lecture Program

Reconfigurable Multiple-Wavelength Optical Systems and Networks
Dr. Alan Willner
Dept. of Electrical Engineering - Systems
Univ. of Southern California


Three major thrusts will be discussed relating to the exciting area of wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) communications, a technique involving the simultaneous transmission of several channels on different wavelengths down the same fiber. The first part of the presentation will provide an overview of the revolution in optical communications caused by WDM and optical amplifiers. The second section is aimed at dynamically compensating channel-degrading effects in reconfigurable systems. These time-dependent degrading effects will occur since next-generation WDM systems will route signals through slowly-reconfigurable network paths, allowing several parameters to vary. Therefore, it is imperative to provide robust dynamic schemes for the compensation of issues such as unequal channel powers, EDFA transients, and chromatic and polarization-mode dispersion. The third thrust is aimed at enhancing the functionality of future packet-switched optical networks, in which each WDM packet can be actively routed through a network based on wavelength and packet information. Significant functions that can be enabled by high-speed optical switches include: contention resolution, header replacement, and synchronization.

WHEN:
Monday May 29, 2000, 2:00 p.m. EST

WHERE:
Sandford Fleming, Rm. 1105, 10 King's College Rd., University of Toronto

In cooperation with
IEEE LEOS




Biography:
Alan Willner received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and he has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore. He is currently a Professor of Electrical Engineering at USC. Prof. Willner has received the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, the Packard Foundation Fellowship, the NSF National Young Investigator Award, the Fulbright Foundation Senior Scholar Fellowship, the USC Outstanding Junior Engineering Faculty Research Award, the USC Best Engineering Teacher Award, and the Armstrong Foundation Memorial Prize. He is an OSA Fellow, a Fellow of the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and an IEEE Senior Member. Professor Willner has served or will serve as: VP for Technical Affairs for the IEEE LEOS, Chair of the LEOS Optical Communications Committee, Elected Member of the LEOS Board of Governors, Photonics Division Chair and Optical Communications Vice-Chair for the OSA, Program Co-Chair for CLEO, Program Chair of the IEEE LEOS Annual Meeting, Program Co-Chair for the OSA Annual Meeting, Program Co-Chair for the OSA Optical Amplifier Meeting, and Steering Committee and Technical Committee Member for OFC. Professor Willner is Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Lightwave Technology (JLT) and a Guest Editor for the JLT Special Issue on Multiple-Wavelength Technologies and Networks. He has over 200 publications and 1 book.
More info: http://commsci.usc.edu/faculty/willner.html





 
May 17, 2000
NIT Distinguished Lecture Series & Electrical and Computer Engineering Special Lecture Series

Photonics: Making Light Work
Dr. J. Stewart Aitchison
Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering
University of Glasgow


Photonics is the term used to describe the use of photons instead of electrons. The increasing demand for communications bandwidth has resulted in many of the benefits of photonic technology finding direct applications.

This presentation will focus on two emerging themes: nonlinear optics and planar silica technology. The first part of the presentation will describe the application of III-V semiconductor technology for the observation of soliton-based effects in periodic structures. The well-developed semiconductor micro-fabrication technology available today has allowed a range of novel all-optical switching devices to be realised. The talk will review results on nonlinear waveguide arrays and nonlinear waveguide gratings.

The second half of the talk will concentrate on the application of flame hydrolysis deposition for the production of integrated optical circuits and the development of hybrid integration techniques. Recent advances in the use of photosensitivity to directly write integrated circuits for optical communications and bio-sensing applications will be described.

WHEN:
Wednesday May 17, 2000
10:00 a.m.

WHERE:
Sandford Fleming, Rm. 1105
10 King's College Rd.
University of Toronto

In cooperation with the
Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Univ. of Toronto

Biography:
Prof. J. Stewart Aitchison graduated B.Sc. (with first class honours) and Ph.D. from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 1984 and 1987 respectively. His doctoral thesis examined optical bistability in semiconductor waveguides.
From 1988 until 1990 he was a postdoctoral member of technical staff with Bellcore, NJ, where his research interests were in the areas of highly nonlinear glasses and spatial soliton propagation. Since 1990, he has been a member of academic staff in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of Glasgow, where he is Professor of Photonics. His current research interests are in the fields of nonlinear propagation in periodic structures, the application of planar silica technology for bio-electronics and the development of monolithic and hybrid integration techniques.




May 16, 2000
NIT at CITO/PRO/MMO Toronto Tech Talk Workshop

Light has revolutionized communications, extending transmission capacity and reach at an astonishing rate. Now optics is creating a new revolution: the realization of ultra-high-speed, reconfigurable, packet-switched photonic networks. This transformation relies on breakthroughs in the world of optical devices. At the heart of technologically advanced, complex components lie fundamental physical principles-- the interaction of light and matter, the combined behaviour of systems of electronic and photonic quantum particles, the connection between materials, light, and information. In this advanced technology research workshop, leading world experts in innovating and engineering the optical networking components of today and tomorrow will come together to present their latest results and debate their visions of the future.

Nortel Institute Junior Chair Prof. Sargent and Prof. Smith, Director NIT, are among the expert panel of speakers presenting at this advanced technology research one-day workshop. Session 2: Novel Devices for Advanced Optical Networks:

Ultrafast Optical Switching and Time Division Demultiplexing
Prof. Peter W. E. Smith
Abstract: There is increasing interest in developing ultrafast optical switching and signal-processing capabilities for tomorrow's information systems. To find significant application, an ultrafast switching technology should utilize components that are small, have low power consumption, and are integrable with other optoelectronic components such as lasers and detectors. In this paper we describe recent progress in the development of semiconductor materials with ultrafast optical response, and in the design and fabrication of devices such as switches and time-division demultiplexers using these materials.

All Optical Packet Switching Using Photonic Crystals
Prof. Ted Sargent
Abstract: Ultrafast networks of the future will rely on optical domain packet switching. In contrast, today's deployment and research are instead focused on wavelength-routing architectures -- a connection-oriented approach. At present, packet switching relies on some degree of electronic intervention. We will present our latest research results on the realization of integrated all-optical packet switches. These are based on a single, simple, highly nonlinear, integrable building-block component, an optical limiter. These devices are realizable and interconnectible inside novel self-ordered mesoscopic media based on photonic polymers. We will discuss results and challenges in materials, mechanisms, devices and architectures.

More info: www.cito.ca




April 26, 2000
NIT at the IMAC Innovation Forum

Prof. Peter W. E. Smith, Director of the Nortel Institute for Telecommunications, was invited to speak at the Innovation Forum “Top R&D Performers Speak Out”. Prof. Smith focused on the genesis, growth and future of the Nortel Institute, a prime example of how the founding partnership of the University of Toronto, Nortel Networks and the Ontario Government has resulted in the increased capacity for innovation.

The forum was organized by the Innovation Management Association of Canada (IMAC), an association of research, technology management, and innovation leaders in Canada. It provided an opportunity to explore the innovation challenges facing Canadian companies, universities, research laboratories, and governments in the new millennium and the vertical integration of innovation through partnerships in R&D intensive sectors. The telecommunications, aerospace, biopharmaceutical and information technologies sectors which each showcased their successes.

More information about the forum and IMAC can be found at http://www.imac-acgi.ca
NIT at Innovation Forum




Data Analysis for Commercial and Industrial Applications
The Fields Institute, Toronto, February 1-4, 2000

The Nortel Institute for Telecommunications and The Fields Institute are organizing a workshop on Data Analysis for Commercial and Industrial Applications. This workshop is intended to serve as an international forum for sharing mathematical results and ideas on data analysis across the mathematics, statistics, physics, biophysics, computer science, and engineering communities. It will offer an opportunity for industrial researchers to exhibit provoking problems arising from the diverse data analysis needs of the commercial and industrial sectors.

The aim of the workshop is to bridge leading-edge mathematical techniques and to open problems which are motivated by commercial and industrial needs. The various categories of mathematical methodologies for discussion include: stochastic processes and Markov chains, nonlinear dynamics and nonlinear time-series analysis, multi-fractal analysis, data mining, and data and signal processing.

PROGRAM & ABSTRACTS




Perspectives on Evolution of Next
Generation High-Capacity Systems
Rich Cowper, Vice President Nortel Networks
NIT Distinguished Lecture Series

Within a year, commercially proven WDM systems based on a 10 Gb/s optical line rate will evolve to 1.6 Tb/s capacity per fiber in terrestrial long-haul applications. Future systems must allow many Terabits per fiber in order to keep pace with rapidly increasing demand and force down transport costs per bit kilometer. This talk addresses the technologies and implementations associated with future multi terabit per second systems. The useable optical bandwidth and related optical amplifier technologies, optical spectral efficiency, modulation formats, data rates, fiber non-linearities and dispersion will be presented in the context of possible implementations of next generation high-capacity fiber optics transmission systems.

WHERE/WHEN:
Tuesday, November 30, 1999 - 3:30 p.m.
Sandford Fleming Bldg, Rm. 1105
University of Toronto



NIT-sponsored Applied Physics Short Courses
October, 1998

"Thin Film Deposition" featuring Bill Westwood
October 6 & 7
Mclennan Physics Labs, 60 St. George St., Toronto
"From Sand to Semiconductors" featuring Tony Spring Thorpe, Nortel Advanced Technology
October 13 & 14
Mclennan Physics Labs, 60 St. George St., Toronto



Tele-learning: Emerging Applications and Opportunities in the Knowledge Economy (Symposium)
September 28-29, 1998

What's new about distance learning? A lot, and it's dramatic stuff. Technological advances, new government policies and regulations, and Internet expansion are driving revolutionary changes in the field. This two-day symposium brought together leading experts and practitioners in technology, education, business and government to present and exchange ideas and information.

Six sessions, each followed by a panel discussion, explored implementation issues, best practices, instructional design, administration and management of tele-learning in the areas of elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, corporate training and professional development. Speakers from Canada, USA and UK addressed current practices, future trends and emerging applications and opportunities, as well as technological and socio-economic challenges.

The symposium also offered the opportunity to showcase the 1-Meg Modem, Nortel Network’s high speed data transfer technology.

Detailed program available