Optics East content migrates to Photonics West and other venues  

BELLINGHAM, WA, USA - 15 October 2007 - SPIE has announced the first phase of migration of conferences from the Society's Optics East meeting to other SPIE-sponsored events starting in 2008.

The action was taken to strategically align conferences that had been held in different venues but that address common technologies, and to respond to requests to reduce competition between SPIE events. The high-quality, cutting-edge Optics East content will continue to be presented at SPIE conferences and published in the SPIE Digital Library.

Top speakers from the broadband and telecom industries will be featured at SPIE Photonics West

· Plenary addresses by Daryl Inniss of Ovum RHK and Steve Rago of iSuppli

· A technical workshop and industry forum on perspectives and latest developments in broadband access communication technologies.

Three communications-related short courses will be offered in 2008, and more communications technical content will be developed for Photonics West 2009.

The majority of the former Optics East sensors content will be concentrated at the SPIE Defense + Security

The conference on Photonics in Transportation will be held at SPIE Europe Photonics Europe

The conference on Two- and Three-Dimensional Methods for Inspection and Metrology will be part of the Optical Engineering and Applications conferences within the SPIE Optics + Photonics

The conference on Intelligent Robots and Computer Vision will be part of the IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging symposium in San Jose, CA, in January 2009.

SPIE will announce further decisions about where other former Optics East conferences will be moved as they are confirmed.

SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. Serving the interests of its more than 188,000 active constituents representing 138 different countries, SPIE acts as a catalyst for collaboration among technical disciplines for information exchange, continuing education, publishing opportunities, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. As the organizer and sponsor of approximately 26 major conferences and education programs annually in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific, SPIE provides publishing, speaking, and learning opportunities on emerging technologies. For more information, visit SPIE.org