VIAVI

At the Open Compute Global Summit 2026, Kevin Chang, Engineering Director, Hardware Platforms at VIAVI, explains that the industry is entering the steep part of the AI growth "hockey stick" and that test and measurement is now recognized as critical to scaling AI infrastructure, from the physical plant to AI job performance. He describes how VIAVI addresses layers ranging from fiber interconnects, transceivers, and signal integrity to the AI switching fabric, with product lines spanning PCIe protocol compliance, Ethernet transceiver testers, AI workload emulation, and optics manufacturing testing.

Paul Brooks, Product Line Manager at VIAVI, presents the company's 11600 1.6 terabit tester, a third-generation platform released in 2024 that has evolved with market scaling toward 1.6 terabit capabilities. The tester features link training and 1.6 terabit MAC electrical breakout, essential for enabling high-scale 1.6 terabit deployment in AI and machine learning ecosystems.

Steve Rumsby, Senior Director of Platform and Architecture at VIAVI, presents the company's award-winning D2 product that enables 802.3dj 1.6T technology with GPU emulation capabilities for testing next-generation AI application workflows. Viavi is collaborating with vendors on interoperability to ensure successful deployment of 1.6T technology and Ultra Ethernet.

Dave Estes, Hardware Engineer at VIAVI Solutions, presents demonstrations at the Ethernet Alliance booth at OFC 2025, showcasing the evolution toward 1.6 terabit Ethernet capabilities using 200G per lane technology with equipment from major vendors including Arista, Cisco, HPE, Keysight, Teledyne LeCroy, and others. The demonstrations feature various optical interconnects including DSP-based, LPO, and LRO configurations.

Sameh Yamany, CTO & Chief AI Officer at VIAVI, discusses convergence of networks, security, AI, photonics, and sensing that will fundamentally change how the industry designs, deploys, and tests infrastructure. He forecasts how high speed data center networking, AI-enabled cybersecurity threats, and use of AI in RAN will have implications on testing needs this coming year.

Paul Brooks, Product Line Manager at VIAVI, discusses how AI is accelerating networking infrastructure demands at the Ethernet Alliance TEF 2026 event, with development cycles compressed from seven years to just two years and scale expanding from thousands to millions of connections requiring massive manufacturing capacity. Brooks expresses confidence that the industry ecosystem is well-positioned to meet these challenges and successfully transition to the gigascale data center era despite the compressed timelines and technical hurdles of advancing to 400 gigabit per lane technology.

Kevin Chang, Engineering Director, Hardware Platforms at VIAVI, presents advanced Ethernet test appliances at the OCP Global Summit that provide efficient testing for AI networks through B3 and M1 appliances generating 800-gigabit traffic with smaller footprint and lower power consumption than traditional GPU data center methods. VIAVI collaborates with Juniper to demonstrate real-time network performance testing and showcases early Ultra Ethernet Consortium specifications, enabling piece-wise testing of emerging network layers and 800-gigabit NICs as technologies move from specifications to hardware implementations.