Omdia's Ian Redpath: Optical networking momentum at OFC23

OFC23 – San Diego – As OFC kicks off this week, Omdia's research director for transport networks and components, Ian Redpath, gives us an overview of the slew of coherent pluggable optics announced in the past few weeks. The approaches vary, but vendors are stepping up with new offerings as network operators look to pluggables – once purely the domain of data center applications – for metro networking applications.

Redpath also discusses the technology implications of AI in the industry and how increasing computing, storage and processing demands have already changed how servers and data centers are connected, and will soon change how data centers are designed.

Here are a few topics we discussed:

• It's been a bumper year for coherent optics announcements – Fujitsu, Nokia, Infinera, Cisco and Ciena all have new technology to talk about this year. (01:38)
• Have the needs of the hyperscalers dominated the conversations in the optical networking space in the same way as they have in the broader telecom ecosystem? (06:54)
• AI is bringing about major changes in the data center. (07:56)
• Pluggable optics are now being used in other devices besides routers, broadening the market even more. (11:11)

We'll update this file later with an unedited transcript.

Related stories and posts:

• Nokia next gen coherent optics to cut network power needs 60% (press release)
• Infinera and Corning achieve record 400G transmission across 2,400 km (press release)
• Ciena unveils industry's first 1.6Tbit/s coherent optic solution (press release)
• Omdia: AI chip startups face 2023 stress tests (press release)

— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading