OFC 2026 Heralds Optical Shift for AI Factories
This week’s OFC conference in Los Angeles offers a potential watershed moment for optical networking, as vendors unveil a raft of new technologies designed to improve the power profile and overall efficiency of AI.
Established companies such as Arista, Ciena, Cisco, and Nokia are showcasing new optical networking components, while startups such as Resolight present new takes on optical designs that could herald revolutionary shifts in product direction.
The primary focus is on capital and operational savings for large enterprises and network operators, with a focus on interconnecting AI clusters and “AI factory” datacenters in ever-widening distributed networks capable of handling larger AI models. Let’s take a look.
Arista. With its new eXtra-dense Pluggable Optics (XPO) transceivers, Arista Networks is setting the stage for a new form factor pluggable due in 2027 that the vendor estimates reduces switch rack footprint by 75%, while enabling reductions in datacenter electrical infrastructure, cooling, and plumbing. Arista says XPO modules provide 4X the bandwidth per rack compared to today’s widespread OSFP design. This means capital savings and operational efficiencies for AI factories. And datacenter providers could get more done in less space, saving billions of dollars in buildouts, Arista claims. A multi-source agreement (MSA) backed by over 40 members will be revealed at OFC. Stay tuned for updates.
Ciena. Among other wares showcased at OFC, the optical transport provider is demonstrating new Reconfigurable Line Systems (RLS) featuring Hyper-Rail, a technique that doesn’t rely on wavelengths but on fully-filled fibers, or rails, to deliver up to 32X more density and up to 75% power savings per rack between clusters and datacenters. Hyper-Rail tech is aimed at hyperscalers’ training networks, where demand for power and bandwidth have cloud providers joining together multiple sites for distribute networking. Within the datacenter, Ciena will demonstrate its new Vesta co-packaged optical (CPO) pluggable connector, which acts as an optical engine, connecting directly to switch ASICs to increase link speeds while reducing power consumption.
Cisco. With its new Open Transport 3000 series, Cisco is also aiming to increase the ability for telcos and other operators to consolidate multiple sites to process ever-growing AI models in parallel, distributed topologies. The new system packs multiple parallel fiber pairs into a single line card, opening up channels from local switches to other racks and datacenters. The open-line systems reduce power consumption by 75%, while increasing rack space by 80%, Cisco claims. The vendor also has added 800-Gb/s capacity to its Cisco NCS 1014 transponder and is showing its new coherent pluggable optical modules based on Acacia technology for access and edge applications in Cisco’s Routed Optical Networking environments.
Marvell and Lumentum. The two companies have jointly developed a rack-level system that integrates Marvell’s optical digital signal processors (DSPs) and datacenter interconnect module with Lumentum’s R300 Optical Circuit Switching (OCS) platform. Recall that NVIDIA recently invested $2 billion in Lumentum to support Lumentum’s R&D and expertise in advanced photonics manufacturing. Marvell and Lumentum state in the press release: “The combination of advanced Marvell optical DSPs with the R300’s scalable, low-loss switching architecture enables dynamic, high-bandwidth optical paths that lower latency, reduce power consumption and increase overall network efficiency.”
Nokia. At OFC, Nokia is unveiling a new architecture designed to provide a "building block" approach based on a new DSPs and optical front-end components. Included are a series of coherent optical pluggable transceivers supporting packet traffic for long-distance and datacenter interconnect applications, along with shorter-reach, high-bandwidth optical connectors for enterprise and campus deployments. Nokia also is featuring double-sided optical pluggables for use with switches based on co-packaged optics (CPO), near-packaged optics (NPO), or linear pluggable optics (LPO). There also are new transponders that in Nokia's words "combine hundreds of coherent components into a single, operationally simplified solution optimized for hyperscale capacity demands across campus, metro, regional, long-haul, and submarine applications." Nokia also has introduced a passive optical networking (PON)-based out-of-band management system dubbed Aurelis that Nokia claims reduces the number of switches required in a network by 90% while shrinking power by 50%.
Resolight. The Israel-based startup cofounded and headed by industry veteran Ofer Shapiro has resurrected the “holy grail” of optical networking—all-optical switching, which uses photonic processing to route and switch traffic in the optical domain without electronic conversion. Using patent-pending technologies, Resolight is working with design partners to develop all-optical switching systems that will work with optical technologies in development, such as co-packaged optics (CPO). Resolight’s approach to Photonic Processing in the network coupled with CPO will make the network 10X more scalable, the startup says. The designs could alter the future of networking for AI.
Futuriom Take: This year’s OFC conference will reveal a range of technologies and products that could reshape the future of AI datacenters. While many of these innovations won't be shipping until next year, it's worth keeping an eye on how they are driving the course of networking for AI.
