The fifth IEEE Photonics Society Optical Interconnects Conference, whose roots trace back to the original 1990 Workshop on Interconnections within High Speed Digital Systems, seeks to facilitate the collaboration required to drive new interconnect architectures and technologies from concepts in research labs to commercial realities. The conference covers the complete spectrum of high performance interconnect challenges in network systems, architectures, applications, subsystems, and devices. The crucial role that any interconnect strategy plays can only be fully realized when optimized at the system level. This is particularly so in large future peta- and exa-scale platforms in datacenters and supercomputers. So we look forward to the participation of system architects, programmers and everyone researching the interconnect role in a more self-aware next generation platform. With the launch of the US Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation, we are particularly interested in exploring how new developments in integrated photonics will impact optical interconnects and next generation systems.

The conference provides a mix of high caliber invited talks in addition to refereed oral and poster papers, each providing a unique opportunity to learn and exchange ideas with the authors. In addition, the conference will once again include a stimulating evening panel discussion on “Are Increasing Amounts of DSP & FEC Inevitable or Insurmountable?” Recognized experts in industry and academia will bring different views to create thought provoking exchanges, and all attendees will have a chance to ask questions and participate in the exciting technical discussion. This year the panel will be held on Monday evening, May 9. We urge you all to attend the panel and learn what the panelists and other attendees envision for the future of optical interconnects. Also, following the conference there will be an open call for papers presented at OIC 2016 for inclusion in a special issue of the IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology.