There’s a song from a previous generation (or, depending upon your age, several previous generations) that goes “everything that once was old is new again”. You hold in your hand an example of this phenomenon.
Lightwave Europe originally launched in March 2002. The ensuing downturn wasn’t any easier on magazines than it was on readers at optical systems houses, component companies, and carriers. As a result, our parent company, PennWell Corp., agreed at the end of 2003 to form a joint venture with the publishers of FibreSystems Europe to create a single magazine dedicated to the EMEA market. You’ve received the resultant publication, FibreSystems Europe in Association with Lightwave Europe, ever since.
However, the two publishing companies decided to go their separate ways this past fall. Rather than abandon EMEA, we at Lightwave have taken this opportunity to reinvent Lightwave Europe. Whereas the original publication strove to provide something that wouldn’t conflict with the original Lightwave, we now hope to provide you with a publication that melds the best of the U.S.-based Lightwave with articles and viewpoints that reflect the unique needs of people like you who work in the EMEA region. If you’re familiar with Lightwave, you’ll recognize that Lightwave Europe is formatted in very much the same way. That will make collaboration between the U.S. staff and our European Editor much easier-and provide you with a publication that recognizes that your requirements are global in scope.
To help bring you a publication that’s worthy of your time and interest, we’ve hired Kurt Ruderman as our European Editor. Well known in the international optical communications market, Kurt lives in Paris, where he has been the editor and correspondent for Fiberoptics Market Intelligence, a newsletter published by KMI Research. He has chaired conferences on fibre-optics markets in Europe and Latin America. Kurt was previously an editor at Agence France Presse, a business editor at Whitney Publications, and a wire editor at The International Herald Tribune in Paris.
Kurt lays out his vision for Lightwave Europe in the message that accompanies this one. The two of us look forward to reporting to you each quarter on the important news, trends, and technology advances that will affect your job and your company’s success in the marketplace. If you’d like to suggest ways in which we can help you further, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
Stephen M. Hardy
Editorial Director & Associate Publisher
[email protected]