As the optical networking community gathers at OFC’17 in Los Angeles, we are seeing an unprecedented number of new technologies and solutions being developed and there is a compelling need for companies to work together to ensure that the combination of these innovative optical network solutions meets network operator demands. Optical Network 2020 has recently been established as a global association that aims to meet this need by fostering an open and sustainable ecosystem for end users, service providers and equipment and component vendors in the cloud era through 2020 and beyond.