The 2022 version of the Special Edition for the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Basel, Switzerland, saw a bumper crop of papers, covering an increasingly wide range of subjects. With nearly 30 papers in total, in this editorial I will refer to just some of those that caught my eye, but I would encourage you to look through the entire collection, as it represents the best optical networks research presented at ECOC in 2022.

Optical access gets significant attention: the Verizon paper [1] describing their optical access network will be appreciated for the insights it gives into an operator’s decision making. There were several papers focused specifically on optical support for 6G/future radio including an impressive 10.51 Tb/s demonstration of IF over fiber for future fronthaul [2] and another proposing a dynamic SDN control to handle the anticipated wide range of 6G services and their associated KPIs [3]. Another, highly practical and useful paper set out a formalism for comparing microwave- and fiber-based transport options, including a total cost of ownership (TCO) [4]. Finally, there was a paper delivering a secure RAN solution using quantum key distribution (QKD) [5].

Modeling and optimization submissions are often applied to future network scenarios but this Special Issue has a selection dealing with more pragmatic issues: one of these looked at ways to statistically combine the multiple causes of degradations to yield a more realistic overall network margin [6]; another dealt strongly with the growing concept of a network digital twin, providing a highly useful base for future research here [7]; and another paper focused on a practical way to model physical layer performance in networks with multiple fiber types, a situation not uncommon, particularly where some consolidation of multiple infrastructures has taken place [8].

There were also papers associated with data center networks including a proposal for a multicore fiber interconnect for spine-leaf data centers, with an associated 12.8 Tb/s throughput [9]. And, finally, there was an ambitious paper presenting a photonic integrated multicast switch in the context of an optical wireless data center [10]. Photonic integrated circuits are expected to find uses in a wide range of network scenarios, as integrated optics moves into areas traditionally associated with electronics.

Overall the ECOC 2022 conference was excellent and a refreshing return to face-to-face as the impact of COVID recedes. We look forward to a similar quality at ECOC 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland.