title: Introduction: ECOC 2011 in Geneva.
abstract: The "First European Conference on Optical Fibre Communication" was held in 1975 in London, organized by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and European Physical Society (EPS). A proceeding with 209 pages was printed by the IEE. In 1988, ECOC was held again in the UK (Brighton) and the IEE pioneered dissemination by publishing for the first time the proceeding of a major conference on an electronic library (IEEE). Since 2008 printed ECOC proceedings are not distributed anymore at all. The 37th ECOC, held in Geneva, marks another publication milestone. For the first time selected proceeding papers are published in an ECOC/Optics Express Special Issue, making use of dissemination through a high impact factor and open access journal.
authors.affiliation: Program Chair ECOC 2011, HPP, Etzelstrasse 58, CH-8834 Schindellegi, Switzerland. harder@charder.ch
authors.forename: Christoph S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Harder