I thought I'd "slide in" here with some thoughts.  In regard to Dr William Ring replacing Dr Suresh Venkatesan as POET speaker at the PIC Conference, I think it was a very honorable and selfless action on behalf of Suresh.  Of the few people that would be qualified to speak at the PIC, Dr Ring would be one.  I believe he spoke last year about the very technology that is about to be made available (engineering samples 1st half of this year and product in the 2nd half, all this year!) through POET.  As per FJ's post, the technology is highly compatible with the POET platform.  The transceiver component was included in the last part of the original abstract presented by Dr Suresh Venkatesan.  Dr Bill Ring (William sounds so formal), as Senior Vice President of POET Technologies, is highly qualified to speak about POET developments as well.  So, as oz4m2 elegantly pointed out, the POET NR on January 31, 2017, announcing the release of our new multiplexer and de-multiplexer is very good news!  Our product is meant to lower the cost of these components used in transceivers.  I think that means our product is less expensive than what's currently on the market.  I believe Rainer referred to the BB Photonics/Bill Ring/POET Technology in the abstract as well.  Thanks Guys!  I also understand Dr Suresh Venkatesan will attend the PIC in Brussels with Dr Ring.  Good News indeed.  It looks like we have a great product on the way.  I think I will play the link from oz4m2 again.   

You may know this already but Dr Bill Ring was Principle Engineer at HP Ipswich, England, and was responsible for the Strained MQW (Multiple Quantum Well) laser found in every HP 1310 transceiver (circa 1990's).  That device brought a lot of business to Hewlett Packard (now Avago).  Another btw, transceivers are an important part of AOC's. (Active Optical Cables) possibly POET's first product.  Please, if there any corrections needed in the above info, please post or PM me.  I do want to get this right.  All the Best, and GLTA  BT