Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) and Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE) have announced that they are pulling out of OFC due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus. Show organizers say they still plan to hold the event as scheduled March 8-12 in San Diego.
Ciena said today it cancelled two planned trade show appearances; the other is its previously planned participation at Capacity Middle East 2020, March 2-5 in Dubai. “We have made the decision to cancel our participation in all industry events for the next 30 days in order to safeguard the well-being of our employees, customers, and partners. Although we are disappointed that we cannot continue with these events as planned, as they are important benchmarks for the industry, we believe this is the right decision under the circumstances and we look forward to participating in future events,” stated Gary Smith, Ciena’s president and CEO, via a press statement.
Lumentum announced a similar decision today. "Every year, we look forward to attending OFC to showcase our latest innovations and advancements in technology," said Alan Lowe, Lumentum President and CEO. "However, our highest priority is the health and safety of our employees, customers, and partners. This year, due to the rapidly evolving coronavirus outbreak, we believe we can better serve all of our stakeholders by exercising an abundance of caution and not attending OFC."
Ciena and Lumentum are the first major Western companies to publicly announce that they have canceled plans to attend OFC. Show organizers earlier today reiterated in an email to press that they plan to move forward with the show. The event planners have added a coronavirus-related FAQ page to its site to complement the previous coronavirus update page (see “Mobile World Congress cancelled; OFC still on, with precautions”).
On both pages, the event planners acknowledge that certain Chinese exhibitors, speakers, and attendees will no longer be able to participate. Yesterday a member of the show’s program committee told Lightwave that plenary speaker Qi Bi, president of the China Telecom Technology Innovation Center and CTO of the China Telecom Beijing Research Institute, is already in the U.S. and planning to present as scheduled. So too is Chih-Lin I from China Mobile Communications Group, who is one of the speakers for the “Vision 2030: Taking Optical Communications through the Next Decade” Special Chairs’ Sessions. The show is making arrangements to pre-record presentations from Chinese speakers who can’t attend for delivery during the event. The new FAQ page contains further information regarding participation from Chinese citizens and others traveling from the area.
[Editor's note: This article was updated to include information on Lumentum's withdrawl.]
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