Fiber Connect 2023 – Observations and Highlights (Part 1) 

After attending a record-setting Fiber Connect 2023, it is time to step back and process the events and the impacts of the conference that continues to separate from the pack as THE leading fiber event in North America in our industry.

With a reported attendance of around 4000, nearly a third larger than 2022, Fiber Connect as a show has clearly rebounded from the Covid doldrums that still haunt many other events in our industry. For me personally, the show has emerged from one of consistently strong educational opportunities with historically “low volume, high value” conversations to an unmatched event in North America that I’d now characterize as “high volume, high value”. Case in point, the DZS booth was packed throughout the event, and we as a company were thrilled with the ability to meet with a wide range of current and potential customers and partners who were not only planning to leverage government funds in their respective fiber initiatives in the near future, but actively seeking fiber solutions today!

We were also thrilled with the ability to show off a lot of our latest DZS innovations, including the well-received FiberWay fast path to fiber solutions, as well as participate in seven different educational events as expert panelists.

Gone are the days of operators worrying about “if” fiber could be a viable solution or where they could use this physical media to compete head-to-head with cable – participants were confident in the competitive advantage fiber provided them and were universally looking forward to defining their own paths to success, from bridging the digital divide to creating new world-class experiences for their customers.

The themes of the conference centered around a couple of key issues:

1. Build America, Buy America (BABA)
2. Middle Mile and it relevance in enabling the future of fiber
3. The future after XGS-PON and the applications driving the industry forward
4. Monetizing the fiber connection and driving faster return-on-investment
5. Improving the fiber experience and increasing Net Promoter Scores

We’ll be publishing a series of Blogs each day this week exploring each of these topics that emerged at Fiber Connect 2023 and take-aways about what we learned from the conference and what we can expect in the future. Read Part 2: Build America, Buy America Takes Center now.