AI Data Center Networking

Mansour Karam, Founder and CEO of Aria Networks, presents their Deep Networking approach centered on performance optimization of AI clusters through fine-grain telemetry. The company's full-stack architecture combines hardware innovations like microsecond-resolution telemetry embedded in ASICs with specialized AI and agentic capabilities with in-built domain expertise.

For our Director's Cut, Sanjay Kumar, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Arrcus, and Keyur Patel, Founder and CTO at Arrcus, explain how Arrcus provides a unified network fabric that connects GPU resources across scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across layers for distributed AI workloads. They touch on how Arrcus differentiates itself through hardware-abstracted operating system software that works across multiple silicon platforms.

Sanjay Kumar, VP of Products and Marketing, and Keyur Patel, CTO at Arrcus, discuss how the distributed nature of AI workloads is fundamentally changing network architecture, with Ethernet becoming a first-class citizen in AI networks for both training and inferencing across increasingly heterogeneous hardware environments. They explain how Arrcus addresses the needs of telcos, colocation providers, hyperscalers, enterprises, and neoclouds by providing a unified fabric that is scalable, highly secured, fully programmatic, and orchestrated on demand across different data centers.

Vishal Chandrasekar, Director of Product Management at Ayar Labs, presents an optical interconnect solution that scales GPU and switch connectivity through a chip-to-system approach, featuring optical engines fabricated on TSMC's platform and multi-chip packages that integrate eight optical engines to replace copper implementations. The solution, developed with partners including FOCI, Browave, Wiwynn, Alchip, and GUC, targets 2028 deployment.

Hasan Siraj, VP of Product Management for the Core Switching Group at Broadcom, explains how Ethernet has become the industry standard for AI networking at scale, enabling clusters of over 100,000 XPUs through scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across architectures. He discuses Broadcom's solution portfolio including: Tomahawk Ultra, Tomahawk 6, Thor Ultra and Jericho 4.

Helen Xenos, Senior Director of Portfolio Marketing at Ciena, presents the company's innovations for GPU cluster interconnects including the Nitro linear retimer driver for active copper cables and the Vesta 200 6.4T CPX optical engine.

Suresh Vasudevan, CEO of Clockwork.io, explains how GPU clusters for AI training operate at only 30-50% efficiency due to poor inter-GPU communication, availability issues, and tail latency from slow straggler GPUs. He explains how nanosecond-precision clock synchronization can be leveraged to address availability and latency issues across Infiniband or RoCE networks.

LK Bhupathi, AVP, Product at Credo, discusses the company's expansion into microLED-based technologies. He explains that microLED solutions use dense arrays of LEDs operating at modest speeds to deliver superior reliability, resilience through spare channel failover, and low single-digit pJ per bit power consumption.

In this Director's Cut video, Dudy Cohen, VP of Product Marketing at DriveNets, explains how Ethernet is evolving through advancing speeds (800G to 3.2T), co-packaged optics (CPO) integration, and scheduling layers that address lossiness to support AI infrastructure with GPU clusters scaling from 8,000 to nearly one million units. He describes how DriveNets has adapted its scheduled fabric technology, delivering superior time-to-first-token performance and lower cost-per-million-tokens compared to proprietary technologies.

Dudy Cohen, VP of Product Marketing at DriveNets, explains that while networking represents only 10% of AI infrastructure costs, it causes 80% of deployment challenges, advocating for Ethernet-based solutions with scheduling capabilities that can exceed InfiniBand performance. He emphasizes the importance of working with innovative vendors who have deep expertience.

Yuval Bachar, Co-founder and CEO of ECL, discusses how his AI data center company addresses the mismatch between rapid 9-12 month technology cycles and slower 18-24 month infrastructure timelines by building equipment and facilities on accelerated schedules while managing increasingly power-intensive racks reaching 150-300 kilowatts through a "flex grid" approach combining multiple energy sources.

Steve Klinger, VP of Product at Lightmatter, presents the company's optical scale-up interconnect solutions, featuring the Passage EVK50 system with DWDM technology that delivers 16 wavelengths per fiber with 400Gbps Tx and 400Gbps Rx. The architecture offers high energy efficiency and compact integration while aligning with the recently announced OCI MSA specifications using an 8-wavelength, 4+4 band interleave model.

Will Chu, SVP and GM, Custom Cloud Solutions Business Unit at Marvell, discusses the company's expansion into XPU attach solutions, where Marvell customizes all components within the XPU tray beyond the XPU. The custom solutions include CXL-enabled memory for expansion and near-memory compute, security devices for AI infrastructure management, and high-performance NICs built on Marvell's SerDes and other IP platforms.

In an extended discussion, Rishi Chugh, VP and GM, Data Center Switching at Marvell, shares how AI workloads are driving data center networking, distinguishing between bandwidth-driven scale-out networking (800Gpbs to 1.6Tbps and beyond) and scale-up fabrics that unify xPU pods requiring memory sharing and ultra-low latency. Chugh shares Marvell's commitment to deliver 100T and 200T scale-out fabrics along with 115T and 57T scale-up fabric devices supporting NVLink Fusion, UALink, and ESUN.

Neel Patel, GM, Optical Networking Component Solutions at Nokia, explains in our Director's Cut edition, how AI data centers face significant power and supply challenges as GPU interconnect speeds double with each generation, requiring transitions from copper to optical solutions within racks. He highlights Nokia's competitive advantages in indium phosphide (InP) technology, positioning the company as an open ecosystem component supplier for hyperscalers.

Mike Bushong, Vice President of Data Center at Nokia, discusses how AI workloads are fundamentally changing the data center networking market, with hyperscalers driving unprecedented demand and technical challenges. He explains that Nokia's broad portfolio across switching silicon, DSPs, and differentiated optics from the Infinera acquisition positions the company to handle complex integration challenges.

Gilad Shainer, SVP of Networking at NVIDIA, shares why building AI factories requires designing four distinct infrastructure layers—scale-up using NVLink, scale-out using InfiniBand or Spectrum X Ethernet, scale-across using Spectrum XGS, and storage with NVIDIA Bluefield-4 STX architecture.

Kurtis Bowman, Chairman of the UALink Consortium, presents announces the release of UALink 2.0 specifications featuring protocol-physical layer separation, in-network compute capabilities, enhanced manageability, and the consortium's first UCIe-based chiplet specification, with the 115-member organization expecting customer solutions with 2.0 to be available in 2027.

In this director's cut video, Aravind Srikumar, SVP of Product at Upscale AI, presents the company's mission to deliver AI-specific networking solutions. Upscale AI differentiates through co-design optimization of ASIC, systems, and software to deliver deterministic performance for AI workloads while maintaining openness.

Aravind Srikumar, SVP, Product at Upscale AI, explains how AI workloads require completely lossless, synchronized networks. He shares how Upscale AI delivers AI-specific networking silicon, systems, and software purpose-built for both scale-up and scale-out environments, rather than adapting general-purpose infrastructure.

Vivek Raghunathan, Co-Founder and CEO of Xscape Photonics, discusses the Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI) standardization effort as an important milestone for scale-up interconnects and co-packaged optics implementations. He explains that OCI uses multi-color laser-based technology for GPU-to-memory communication and highlights Xscape's recently announced laser module.

Dudy Cohen, VP of Product Marketing at DriveNets, presents the company's dual AI strategy at MWC 2026, introducing automation tools that simplify service provider operations and enable autonomous networks while helping operators leverage existing infrastructure for new AI business opportunities. DriveNets enables service providers to use the same infrastructure for both legacy services and new offerings like GPU-as-a-service, allowing them to build GPU clusters, become neo-clouds, and capitalize on the AI market.

Julius Francis, Senior Director, Product Marketing at HPE, explains how AI workloads are becoming distributed across multiple sites beyond traditional data centers, requiring robust networking infrastructure, and how HPE's integration with Juniper combines compute, storage, networking, and security capabilities including cloud-native routing in ProLiant servers for edge environments. He highlights opportunities for telecommunications providers to leverage their infrastructure for distributed AI interconnection and announces the SPX 12000 router, delivering over 500 terabytes per second in 32RU with 800 Gig capability and 1.6T readiness, featuring deep buffers, low latency, and line-rate security for hyperscalers, telcos, and cloud-scale enterprises.

Joel Brand, AVP, Product Marketing at Marvell, explains how major wireless vendors are shifting to software differentiation while adopting standardized CPUs and GPUs, creating opportunities for harmonization through initiatives like the Linux Foundation's OCUDu and OCP projects. He highlights that Marvell is uniquely positioned as the only provider of macro-grade merchant silicon to address the industry's economic challenges by moving from custom silicon to market-optimized solutions that offer better cost efficiency and power performance at scale.

Houman Modarres, Head of Enterprise Marketing at Nokia, presents the company's physical AI initiative at Mobile World Congress, showcasing Surf food delivery trucks with Nvidia Jetson GPUs deployed across seven US cities in partnership with DoorDash and Uber Eats. Nokia is collaborating with Nvidia and T-Mobile to build an "AI grid" that distributes processing across devices, AI RAN, and network layers, enabling applications like safe navigation, human assistance, and multilingual customer support through LLMs running on the radio network.

Jon Baldry from Nokia presents the company's 800 gig pluggable optical connectivity solutions for data center interconnection at Mobile World Congress, demonstrating through augmented reality how the technology reduces power consumption by 65-70% compared to embedded optics—a critical advantage for power-constrained data center operators managing AI-driven traffic between core and edge facilities. Nokia maintains its competitive edge in the 800 gig ZR and ZR plus optics market through vertical integration, manufacturing pluggables, subsystems, and optical chips at its indium phosphide fabrication facility in California, enabling superior transmission distances and supply chain control.

Per Hansen, Product Manager at Acacia, discusses the company's 1.6T transceiver portfolio for AI infrastructure scale-out applications and the growing adoption of scale-across architectures driving demand for 800G coherent solutions, with over 25,000 units already shipped.

Near Margalit, GM and VP of Optical Systems Division at Broadcom, presents the newly released OCI MSA optical standard for scale-up networks at OFC26, which reduces latency, power, and cost by utilizing wavelength division technology with four colors of light in each direction instead of high-speed serial PAM 4 lanes.

Hasan Siraj, VP of Product Management in the Core Switching Group at Broadcom, highlights the Ethernet for Scale-Up Networking Group's 1.0 specification and rack expansion from 64-128 XPUs to 1K XPUs. He also announces Tomahawk 6 shipping in volume production as the first to support 64 ports of 1.6Tbps with 200G SerDes and CPO, the company's participation in the OCI MSA, and the new Jericho 4 enabling cross-data center cluster deployment.

Gang Qiu, Product Line Manager, Marketing at Broadcom, presents Taurus, the industry's first 400 gigabit per lambda PAM4 optical DSP designed to help customers scale AI infrastructure at OFC 2026. The solution enables next-generation low-cost, low-power 1.6 terabit transceivers and paves the path to 3.2 terabit transceivers in 200 terabit switch networking systems.

Harish Bharadwaj, VP of Marketing for the ASIC Product Division at Broadcom, discusses the company's 3.5D silicon technology that stacks two compute dies face-to-face on an interposer, advancing beyond the industry's standard 2.5D approach. Broadcom is now shipping its first 3.5D product to Fujitsu, with the technology being adopted across all major XPU partners.

Helen Xenos, Senior Director of Portfolio Marketing at Ciena, presents the company's innovations for GPU cluster interconnects at OFC, including the Nitro linear retimer driver for active copper cables and the Vesta 200 6.4T CPX optical engine. These solutions provide flexible, power-efficient connectivity options to help customers build high-capacity networks for modern AI infrastructure.

Mark Bieberich, Vice President of Product Marketing at Ciena, discusses the company's scale-across architectures for geographically distributed AI training, featuring next-generation coherent optical pluggables, new WaveLogic 6 Nano performance modes, and a roadmap toward 1600 ZR and ZR+ technologies.

Bill Gartner, SVP & GM, Optical Systems and Optical Business Unit at Cisco Systems, presents the company's optical innovations at OFC, including multi-rail optical line systems supporting 128 fibers in a single rack and a new 12.8 terabit transponder with 800-gig pluggable optics. He highlights Cisco's leadership in coherent pluggable optics for AI infrastructure.

Peter Jones, Chair of the Ethernet Alliance, presents at OFC 2026 on how Ethernet technology must address unprecedented AI-driven infrastructure demands that are straining supply chains for chips, power, and fiber. He emphasizes that despite these immense challenges, Ethernet's proven track record of reliability makes it the only viable solution for enabling the industry's AI connectivity requirements.

Anabel Alarcon, Product Line Manager at EXFO, presents key trends at the Ethernet Alliance booth at OFC 2026, including OSFP-RHS for higher density AI deployments and the growing adoption of coherent transceiver technology for GPU-to-switch connectivity.

Vijay Murthy, Senior Technical Product Manager at Keysight Technologies, demonstrates Ethernet for AI at the Ethernet Alliance booth, showing how Ethernet supports massive AI training and inferencing workloads through a multi-vendor fabric network.

Rittik Shah, Senior Staff Application Engineer at Marvell, demonstrates a 1.6T PAM4 TRRO electrical system at OFC 2025, featuring RT DSP technology operating at 200 Gbps per lambda with 21 dB output TCQ and 0.995 linearity. The demonstration showcases wide open eye patterns designed for high-speed data center, AI networking, and switching fabric interconnect applications.

Manish Gulyani, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Nokia, explains how AI infrastructure expansion beyond single data centers is driving demand for distributed networking across multiple campus sites, with Nokia's 7250 EXR18 half-petabit system delivering 576 ports of 800-gigabit connectivity to enable these sites to operate as unified AI clusters.

Jim Finch, Vice President of Commercial Strategy at Salience Labs, presents developments in all-optical switches for 2026, highlighting how OCS technology addresses data center scale-up challenges across racks where traditional solutions cannot meet performance demands. Salience Labs demonstrates a 32-port optical switch with a fully non-blocking optical crossbar.

Matt Crowley, CEO of Scintil Photonics, presents the company's heterogeneous silicon photonics technology that integrates indium phosphide lasers using a proprietary "backside on box" process. The company's external light sources combine lasers, muxes, photodiodes, and wavelength references on a single die to address AI data center demands for dense wavelength division multiplexing, with evaluation kits shipping to select customers in Q2 and high-volume deployment expected by 2028.

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.

Thad Omura, Chief Business Officer at Astera Labs, expects adaptability and flexibility through specialized accelerators, hybrid AI fabric solutions combining multiple protocols, and tiered memory architectures for large-scale inference workloads to be front and center in 2026.

Jenn Cahill, Assistant VP of Campus Infrastructure Integration at Black & Veatch, projects that 2026 will bring increased partnerships between power suppliers and data center developers, with collocated generation and sustainable options like SMRs becoming more prevalent, alongside significant water management innovation driven by GPU cooling demands in warmer regions. She highlights the rise of neocloud providers offering distributed AI-as-a-service in the 20-80 megawatt range, and emphasizes that data-driven decision-making through integrated campus simulations and AI-enabled operations will become standard practice across the industry.

Hasan Siraj, Head of Software Products/Ecosystem at Broadcom, presents three networking predictions for 2026 centered on AI infrastructure, including Ethernet becoming the standard for scale-up networking, AI clusters expanding across multiple data centers with Ethernet as the interconnecting fabric, and co-packaged optics going mainstream due to 70% power efficiency gains. Broadcom is investing heavily in these technologies while collaborating with customers and partners to enable these infrastructure transitions.

Dudy Cohen, VP of Product Marketing at DriveNets, presents three predictions for 2026 AI infrastructure: a more heterogeneous GPU market, networking becoming a critical design consideration, and Ethernet emerging as the leading technology across all AI infrastructure connections (from scale-up to scale-out).

Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, predicts that 2026 will see record fiber deployment driven by private investment and BEAD program funding, while quantum networking becomes critical as "Q Day" threats accelerate the need for enhanced encryption security.

Noam Mizrahi, EVP and Corporate CTO at Marvell, presents three key predictions for the semiconductor and AI infrastructure landscape in the coming year. He anticipates hybrid electrical-optical connectivity evolving to fully optical by 2027, greater integration of AI capabilities into chip design technologies, and expanded memory capacity beyond traditional HBM through attached or disaggregated architectures.

Piyush Sevalia, Executive Vice President, Marketing at SiTime, presents three key predictions for 2026 focused on AI infrastructure's demand for resilient timing solutions, the transition from 800G to 1.6 terabits per second networking bandwidth, and AI-enabled robotics requiring precision timing under extreme conditions. He explains that keeping expensive GPUs running continuously, accelerating data delivery, and enabling robots to operate in challenging environments where humans cannot are driving significant design activity for SiTime's timing technology.

Stephen Douglas, Head of Market Strategy at Spirent, talks about 5G Advanced momentum with RedCap IoT and location services, telco AI offerings like GPU-as-a-service, and expanded non-terrestrial direct-to-device capabilities beyond emergency use cases. He also discusses accelerated 6G standardization focused on new spectrum bands, integrated sensing, and cybersecurity.

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.

Alex Nichol, Principal Engineer at Arista Networks, showcases the company's new AI networking equipment including 800 gigabit switches and latest XPO optics while emphasizing their commitment to open standards.

Juan Rodriguez, Senior Sales Engineer at DriveNets, explains how service providers are adopting AI networking through a "third" approach leveraging distributed disaggregated chassis (DDC) cluster technology with fabric architecture.

Cyril Chouviat of Lanner Electronics, presents the company's comprehensive product portfolio, featuring Edge Compute Appliances with Intel Granite Rapid CPUs and GPU acceleration, ruggedized IEC-compliant cybersecurity solutions, and IP67-rated 5G UCPE units for outdoor deployment. The showcase includes systems supporting Intel Xeon 6, Nvidia MGX architecture with Grace CPU, and Jetson Thor appliances for robotics.

Vishal Shukla, Founder and CEO of Aviz Networks, leads the company's development of network management solutions that enhance GPU resource allocation and monitoring across multi-tenant environments. Through their collaboration with Nvidia on the Spectrum X platform, Aviz Networks delivers comprehensive system deployment capabilities and analytics for both Nvidia and AMD GPU infrastructures in SONiC-based networks.

Vladimir Stojanovic, CTO & Co-Founder of Ayar Labs, outlines the company's optical IO technology that addresses GPU scaling challenges in AI inference workloads by enabling connectivity across multi-rack GPU clusters. The solution achieves 10-20x better performance per watt while supporting direct extended memory connections, marking a significant advance over traditional copper IO approaches.

Ram Velaga, GM and SVP of Core Switching Group at Broadcom, discusses how networking must evolve to support expanding AI infrastructure and machine learning systems across multiple scaling domains in data centers. He explains why Ethernet technology stands out as the optimal networking solution for AI infrastructure, highlighting its clean interface, proven reliability, and consistent bandwidth improvements that align with industry needs.

At AI Infra 2025, Lisa Spelman, CEO of Cornelis Networks, shared insights on GPU utilization challenges, noting that 30% of GPU time is lost waiting for communications. Cornelis Networks addresses these inefficiencies through networking solutions that enable scaling up to 500,000 endpoints without hitting performance limitations.

Sid Sheth, CEO of d-Matrix, introduces their Jetream IO accelerator product that works alongside their Corsair compute accelerator to enable multi-node AI workload scaling. The solution uses PCI cards supporting up to eight Corsair accelerators per node, with the Jetream IO accelerator enabling cross-node scaling through an Ethernet switch.

Dudy Cohen, VP, Product Marketing at DriveNets, outlines three essential approaches to AI infrastructure scaling: scale up, scale out, and scale across, demonstrating how modern networks can support up to 576 GPUs in single clusters. His analysis shows how scale out networking enables unlimited GPU scalability through fabric scheduled architectures, while scale across solutions allow organizations to manage distributed GPU resources across multiple data centers as one unified system.

Marc Austin, CEO of Hedgehog, showcases the company's open-source AI networking software that delivers superior performance on whitebox switches compared to traditional solutions at significantly lower costs. The solution enables automated network operations while supporting diverse AI accelerators beyond Nvidia, including offerings from AWS and AMD.

Mark Kuemerle, VP of Technology and CTO of ASIC Business Unit at Marvell, presented key memory optimization strategies at the AI Infrastructure Summit, focusing on embedded SRAM IP, custom HBM, and the Striker memory aggregation device. These innovations from Marvell enhance data center performance by improving bandwidth and reducing latency across multiple memory types.

Mark Kuemerle, VP of Technology and CTO of ASIC Business Unit at Marvell, presented the company's new die-to-die interface technology at the AI Infrastructure Summit, highlighting its ability to triple bandwidth density while reducing power consumption by 40-70%. The innovative IP block enhances interconnect capabilities between dies and custom HBM, marking a major step forward in data center AI system development.

Moshe Tanach, Co-Founder & CEO of NeuReality, unveiled their upcoming 1.6 terabyte NIC product that enhances GPU efficiency in AI workloads by improving active time from 16% to nearly 80%. The new NIC, set for release in late 2026, features in-network compute capabilities and Ultra Ethernet support, providing an alternative to InfiniBand while maintaining low latency performance.

Kurtis Bowman, Chairman of UALink Consortium, outlines how their open standard technology meets scaling requirements with over 110 members implementing specifications in switches and accelerators. The technology builds on existing Ethernet infrastructure while enabling companies to maintain their focus, with major tech firms like AWS, Google, Meta, and Intel actively deploying UALink solutions in their data centers.

Vivek Raghunathan, Co-Founder and CEO of Xscape Photonics, is developing silicon photonics-based laser solutions to address bandwidth constraints in AI computing systems, where GPU-to-memory bandwidth significantly outpaces package-to-package communication. The company's technology adapts wavelength division multiplexing to create scalable lasers generating multiple wavelengths on silicon chips, with initial products targeting AI fabric and accelerator vendors.

Tony Chan Carusone, Chief Technology Officer at Alphawave Semi, discusses how AI demand and maturing die-to-die interface standards are accelerating chiplet adoption. He outlines three main applications: connecting compute chiplets with high bandwidth and low latency, linking compute cores to IO chiplets for extended connectivity, and interfacing compute chiplets with optical components for long-distance AI cluster communication.

Shekar Ayyar, CEO of Arrcus, outlines how networking infrastructure supports AI's progression from training to distributed inference applications through their multi-platform networking fabric and operating system. He discusses Arrcus's IPsec offloading for AI data centers and cost management solutions, while highlighting Ethernet's expanding role in connecting GPU stacks to edge computing.

Paroma Sen, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Astera Labs, showcases four major data center innovations including PCI Gen 6 solutions, Cosmos software suite, and Leo CXL smart memory controllers 5. She shares the company's expanding technology portfolio while highlighting their leadership in UALink development.

Dudy Cohen, VP, Product Marketing at DriveNets, outlines how data centers can support AI workloads through advanced networking solutions that eliminate jitter and packet drop while maintaining low latency. His showcases the DriveNets Network Cloud AI solution, which uses scheduled Ethernet fabric to connect thousands of GPUs through a single hop while operating on cost-effective white box hardware.

Amit Sanyal, Senior Director of Data Center Product Marketing at Juniper, shares how Ethernet performance matches InfiniBand in AI clusters through benchmarks from Juniper's AI lab and major hyperscalers. His analysis shows how leading AI providers select Ethernet for its extensive ecosystem and cost advantages, while highlighting their focus on power efficiency through liquid cooling and advanced switch designs.

Annie Liao, Product Management Director at Marvell, presents PCIe Gen 6 retimer solutions and PCIe Gen 7 technology critical for scaling up AI infrastructure. The demonstrations include a three-board PCIe Gen 6 setup with retimer capabilities, and a PCIe Gen 7 system achieving 128G transfer speeds with improved bit error rates through TSMC's 3nm process.

Winnie Wu, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Marvell, describes how data center architectures are adapting to AI server needs through changes in switch placement and rack configurations. She outlines their 7-meter 28-gauge cables supporting 800G breakout connections and their 1.6T product with 32-gauge cables optimized for GPU-to-GPU connectivity.

Hani Daou, Business Development Manager at Multilane, explains how AI and cloud providers are pushing the boundaries for faster, higher-density network connectivity. He showcases Multilane's new 200 GB per lane bit error rate tester with a 3M 1.6 terabit active electrical cable, helping vendors advance their high-speed interconnect solutions for AI clusters.

Mike Bushong, Vice President of Data Center at Nokia, explains that AI infrastructure goes beyond just hyperscalers and spans multiple markets with distinct geographical constraints and requirements for power and space. He outlines how Nokia is addressing these needs through partnerships, multivendor management, and comprehensive networking solutions.

Kevin Deierling, Senior Vice President of Networking at NVIDIA, outlines the company's scale-up and scale-out networking technologies, focusing on their GB200 NVL72 architecture, InfiniBand offerings, and Spectrum-X Ethernet platform. He discusses scale-up and scale-out scenarios, highlighting how their optimized Ethernet offering can support 100K+ GPU clusters.

Kurtis Bowman, Chairman of UALink Consortium, is leading the development of an Ultra Accelerator Link technology that enables connecting up to 1,024 GPUs for enhanced AI capabilities. The initiative, supported by major tech companies and over 75 consortium members, aims to create an open standard supporting 200-800 Gbps data rates with low latency communication between GPUs.

Will Chu, SVP and GM, Custom Cloud Solutions BU, discusses the company's expansion into XPU attach solutions, where Marvell customizes all components within the XPU tray, including CXL-enabled memory for expansion and near-memory compute, security devices for AI infrastructure management, and high-performance NICs.

Xi Wang, SVP and GM for Connectivity, introduces the company's RELIANT software suite and Golden Cable program designed to remotely monitor and manage AI infrastructure connecting hundreds of thousands of GPUs and XPUs by collecting data from DSPs in cables and optical modules.

Matt Kim, AVP, Custom Cloud Solutions Business Unit, presents PIVR (Package Integrated Voltage Regulator) technology as a solution to power delivery challenges in the multi-kilowatt chip era where moving voltage regulators directly into the XPU package increases current density performance by up to 2x and reduces power transmission losses by as much as 85%.

Rishi Chugh, VP and GM, Data Center Switching at Marvell, joins Roy Chua, Principal and Founder of AvidThink, to explore how AI workloads are fundamentally changing data center networking by demanding flatter architectures and unprecedented levels of reliability. The discussion covers how AI training's massive power consumption and time requirements make network failures extremely costly, driving the industry to reconsider traditional Ethernet approaches and adopt more complex designs with distinct front-end and backend networks.

Mirko Voltolini, VP Innovation at Colt, examines how enterprises are turning to internet underlay for their connectivity requirements, especially in multi-cloud and edge deployments supporting IT and AI workloads. He outlines a trategy of developing streamlined, distributed IP networks that emphasize cost efficiency and sustainability through routed optical networking technologies.

Gabriele Di Piazza, Vice President of Products, Alliances & Architectures at Blue Planet (a Ciena Company), discusses key Mobile World Congress trends including AI-driven infrastructure for network automation and digital twin technology for network simulation. He emphasizes how service providers are adopting data management layers while shifting toward cloud-native environments, highlighting the importance of building comprehensive ecosystems that unite network, OSS, and BSS players with developer communities.

Freddie Södergren, VP Head of Technology & Strategy for Business Area Networks at Ericsson, outlines the company's vision for future networks that combine high performance with programmability to support emerging use cases and tailored connectivity. He emphasizes how AI enhances RAN performance and network automation while highlighting the need to build infrastructure that efficiently handles distributed AI workloads with optimal latency and throughput.

Alex Quach, VP and GM of the Wireline and Core Network Division at Intel, explains how telecom providers are upgrading networks with AI capabilities and enhanced power efficiency through the company's Xeon processor families. The new processors deliver significant performance gains and power savings while supporting both networking and AI workloads, particularly at network edges and cell sites.

Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, discusses the significant bandwidth increases observed at OCP 2025, where networks are experiencing 10x to 100x more bandwidth than historically seen due to GPU and XPU connectivity requirements. He highlights new certifications including 24 gigs equating to 1.6T for switches and transceivers, along with demonstrations of 448 gigs technology for both scale-out and new scale-up applications that deliver 10x the bandwidth of scale-out domains.

Sanjay Kumar, VP of Products and Marketing at Arrcus, presents the company's ACE AI distributed networking fabric that provides congestion-free, lossless Ethernet connectivity for AI workloads spanning from data center training to edge inferencing. Kumar announces a collaboration with Quanta Cloud Technologies to enable their Tomahawk 5 switches for AI-ready rack solutions, creating turnkey offerings that reduce deployment friction for customers implementing AI at scale.

Manish Mehta, VP Marketing, Optical Systems Division at Broadcom, discusses the explosive demand for AI innovation and the need for collaborative forums like OCP to unite community partners at the Open Compute Summit in San Jose. He highlights Broadcom's contributions to next-generation AI networks through rack scale architectures with Celestica, ESON partnerships, and optical innovations that provide hyperscalers with confidence in innovation velocity and supply reliability.

Helen Xenos, Senior Director, Portfolio Marketing at Ciena, presents the company's comprehensive AI infrastructure solutions at OCP, including their industry-first single carrier 1.6 terabit per second coherent solution and ultra-low power metro DCI with 400 gig coherent pluggables. She also discusses Ciena's recent acquisition of Nubis Communications, which enables linear redrivers for active copper cables and XT optical engines for co-packaged optics applications.

Lisa Spelman, CEO of Cornelis Networks, discusses how companies struggle to extract sufficient value from their AI infrastructure investments, particularly regarding compute cycles, power efficiency, and data center space utilization to make their economic models viable. She explains that Cornelis Networks addresses these economic challenges by developing technology that increases GPU utilization and delivers enhanced performance, with their current 400 gig technology already providing ultraethernet compliance features like credit-based flow controls and adaptive routing.

Dudy Cohen, VP, Product Marketing at DriveNets, discusses Ethernet's growing dominance across all networking use cases at the OCP Global Summit, explaining how modern high-performance Ethernet solutions now surpass InfiniBand performance through technologies like scheduled fabric. He emphasizes that Ethernet is successfully pursuing leadership in the demanding scale-up domain with its improved low latency and predictability capabilities, making this an exciting time for AI infrastructure networking.

Marc Austin, CEO of Hedgehog, discusses the emerging Neocloud working group at OCP Global Summit and explains how his company addresses critical infrastructure needs for this growing market that requires high-performance AI infrastructure at competitive prices. Austin highlights Hedgehog's AI network software solution that enables Neoclouds like FarmGPU and enterprise customers like Zipline to operate high-performance AI networks with minimal operational expenses using cloud operations teams rather than specialized network engineers.

Mahesh Subramaniam, Sr. Director of Product Management at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, demonstrates the Ultra Ethernet Consortium specification implementation at the OCP Innovation Village, showcasing advanced networking technologies for AI data centers. The demonstration features Hewlett Packard Enterprise's QFX 50240 switches handling both Ultra Ethernet Transport and RoCE v2 traffic simultaneously, along with an advanced packet trimming feature for congestion management.

Neil Edmunds, VP of Product Management at Iceotope, presents advanced thermal management solutions at OCP 2025 that use dielectric fluids and cold plates to capture 100% of thermal load from high-power AI infrastructure, reducing cooling energy consumption. The Iceotope approach enables data centers to allocate more power to GPUs and compute resources while efficiently managing thermal challenges from 1 megawatt racks and 8 kW chips.

Michael DeMerchant, Sr. Director, Product Line Marketing at Lumentum, explains how the AI infrastructure buildout drives hyperscalers to focus on optical technologies, with Lumentum addressing network power consumption challenges through optical circuit switches, external laser sources for co-packaged optics, and 1.6T partial retimed optics modules. DeMerchant also highlights Lumentum's participation in OCP OCS working group standardization efforts to bring industry vendors and hyperscalers together for common standards that accelerate technology adoption.

Hani Daou, Business Development Manager at Multilane, discusses the critical correlation between interconnect testing and accelerated GPU revenue generation, explaining how current trends including AECs, ACCs, and cable back cartridges enable cost-effective, scalable copper-based GPU connections. He emphasizes that comprehensive testing throughout the interconnect lifecycle is essential for monetizing GPU systems, particularly as the industry transitions to co-packaged optics and near-package optics for hyperscaler applications.

Joost Verberk, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Oriole Networks, explains how AI infrastructure requires a complete rethinking of network architecture with significantly more optical components than current implementations. He emphasizes that Oriole Networks believes AI-focused networks must be fully photonic, eliminating electronic packet switching entirely to meet the demanding performance requirements of modern AI workloads.

Kurtis Bowman, Chairman of UALink Consortium, presents UALink as a scaleup fabric solution that offers technical advantages including lower power consumption, reduced latency, and efficient data movement achieving nearly 200 Gbits per second on a 200 Gbit per second link. He reports that consortium members have IP available for designing switches and accelerators, with initial device availability expected in 2026 and widespread data center deployment anticipated in 2027.

Aravind Srikumar, SVP of Product at Upscale AI, discusses how his company develops open scale-up solutions using ASICs to interconnect GPUs, addressing hyperscalers' compute resource challenges through standards-based approaches.

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.

Tom Williams, VP, Marketing at Acacia , introduces their new silicon photonic Optical Engine product family designed to support AI infrastructure with 200Gig per lane capabilities across multiple applications. The company's development of a 1.6T PAM4 DSP demonstrates their expansion into data center markets while focusing on power efficiency and enhanced network performance.

Manish Mehta, VP Marketing, Optical Systems Division of Broadcom, presents the company's optical interconnect advances for AI networks at OFC, including their groundbreaking 200Gbps per lane VCSEL technology and production-ready EML laser solutions. The presentation showcases how Broadcom's co-packaged optics reduce power usage by 70% while enabling enhanced integration through the Tomahawk 5 Bailly 51T Ethernet switch connected to Thor 2 NIC and XPU-to-switch optical connectivity solutions.

Don Barnetson, SVP & Head of Product at Credo, explains how liquid cooling has shortened data center connectivity needs to 1-2 meters, enabling new copper-based solutions. His company's 800G zero flap Active Electrical Cables are replacing optical alternatives in hyperscale environments, delivering better reliability and significant power savings that can be redirected to GPU operations.

Kevin Soukup, SVP and GM of Silicon Photonics at GlobalFoundries, outlines the company's progress in co-packaged optics technology at OFC 2025, emphasizing their unique advantages in monolithic wafer technology and two-sided testing capabilities. Through strategic partnerships and advanced manufacturing processes, GlobalFoundries is positioning itself as a key player in the CPO market, particularly focusing on data center applications where scale-up networking dominates transmission needs.

George Hervey, Principal Architect at Marvell, showcases an innovative co-packaged copper design for switch trays that enhances passive copper performance through substrate-mounted flyover wires and 224G compatibility. The liquid-cooled solution enables direct XPU ASIC to CPO engine connections and supports large-scale multi-rack compute clusters up to 2,000 nodes with a single switching layer.

Hani Daou, Business Development Manager at Multilane, showcased the industry's first commercial 200 Gbit per lane BERT system with eight lanes reaching 1.6T throughput at OFC's 50th anniversary. The system's impressive bit error rates of 1E minus 8 during live demonstrations position Multilane as a key enabler for partners testing and deploying new 1.6 TB optical transceivers in AI clusters.

Hamid Arabzadeh, CEO of Ranovus, details their wafer-scale co-package optics technology that enables optical interfaces across multiple GPUs, delivering significantly higher capacity than traditional solutions. The technology, developed through collaboration with Cerebras and backed by a DARPA contract, addresses key power and cost challenges while providing superior interconnect capabilities for AI compute platforms.

Asim Rasheed, Product Manager for High Speed Ethernet at Spirent, demonstrates advanced Ethernet technologies including 1.6T transmission and the upcoming Ultra Ethernet Transport standard. The presentation showcases Spirent's latest solutions for high-performance testing while highlighting their role as an independent test vendor enabling objective technology comparisons across the industry.

Xu Wang, Hardware Engineer at Meta, examines the growing network bandwidth demands for AI systems, focusing on scaling from 228 to 448 Gbits per second while managing power and space constraints. He outlines technical hurdles in modulation formats and interconnect components, emphasizing the need for industry alignment to support next-generation AI infrastructure development.

Jeff Hutchins, Director of the CTO Office at OIF, leads the organization's Energy Efficient Interfaces group, which builds upon their 2020 co-packaging work with hyperscalers. The group advances multiple energy-saving technologies, including transmit linear receiver solutions and high-density connectors, while addressing critical power consumption and reliability challenges in AI training environments.

Nathan Tracy, President of OIF, leads a comprehensive 400 gigabit workshop focused on AI compute infrastructure requirements, bringing together industry experts, hyperscalers, and analysts. The workshop addresses six key areas including electrical data rates, coherent technology, and network capacity management, with Tracy emphasizing recent progress in 448 gigabit solutions while tackling technical hurdles in achieving higher data rates.

Kurtis Bowman, Chairman of UALink Consortium, outlines the industry's quick advancement from 200G to 400G networking while highlighting the organization's new specification release. The standardization enables multi-vendor GPU and switch compatibility through high-bandwidth, low-latency connections that allow multiple GPUs to operate as a unified system.

Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, forecasts AI's dominance in 2025 with unprecedented hyperscaler spending and equipment needs driving 300-400% growth in AI ASICs and 100% growth in GPUs. The acceleration of networking speeds through AI fabrics and 1.6T connectivity creates major opportunities for network vendors in this expanding trillion-dollar ecosystem.

Michael Klempa, Product Marketing Engineer at Alphawave Semi, forecasts that 2025 will bring specialized AI hardware and increased connectivity demands, with 400Gig-class signaling taking center stage in AI network scaling. He highlights the need to reassess traditional technologies like PAM modulation at higher speeds while anticipating new optical devices, advanced packaging solutions, and the expansion of coherent optical connectivity into shorter-reach applications.

Shekar Ayyar, CEO of Arrcus, outlines three major AI infrastructure predictions for 2025, including a shift from training to inference and the deployment of AI models at network edges. His analysis highlights how Arrcus is developing intelligent networks with optimized channels for power and cost efficiency, while integrating security features directly into routing and switching infrastructure.

Ken Rutsky, CMO of Aryaka, outlines three major predictions for 2025 focused on network platformization, AI networking challenges, and the emergence of a new Chief Secure Networking Officer role. The predictions highlight how organizations will need to adapt their network and security architectures to support hybrid work environments while managing increased AI workloads and data movement requirements.

Thad Omura, Chief Business Officer at Astera Labs, forecasts major shifts in data center AI infrastructure for 2025, including the growth of reasoning model clusters to one million nodes and adoption of new protocols like Ultra Accelerator Link. His analysis points to AI infrastructure management tools becoming essential for optimizing investments, with connectivity solutions enabling improved fleet monitoring and resource optimization at scale.

Pete Del Vecchio, Data Center Switch Product Line Manager at Broadcom, shares his vision for 2025, highlighting Ethernet's dominance in GPU clusters and scale-up networking. His analysis points to a future where AI deployment becomes more accessible through efficient processors and networking solutions, enabling organizations of all sizes to implement large language models.

Mittal Parekh, Senior Director of Ruckus Networks Business Unit at CommScope, outlines how network technologies will drive enterprise sustainability in 2025, positioning sustainability as a strategic necessity rather than a corporate checkbox. He illustrates how AI-driven networks, combined with Wi-Fi 7, IoT protocols, and private 5G, will enhance energy efficiency and resource management across various enterprise settings including hospitality, education, healthcare, and corporate environments.

Chris Collins, VP of Sales & Marketing for Optical DSPs at Credo, outlines predictions for 2025 including the emergence of 1.6T transceivers and power-efficient 3nm DSP devices. He highlights how optical link reliability will be essential for AI clusters while the optical ecosystem expands beyond traditional suppliers to support growing market needs.

Don Barnetson, VP Product - HiWire AECs at Credo, forecasts key networking shifts for 2025, including InfiniBand's reduced role as Ethernet becomes the standard for scale-out networks and proprietary interfaces align with 224G IEEE Ethernet standards. His analysis highlights how liquid cooling's space advantages will drive renewed interest in copper connectivity for NIC-to-switch connections, offering better power efficiency and reliability at lower costs.

Yuval Bachar, Co-founder and CEO of ECL, forecasts major data center challenges for 2025, focusing on unprecedented AI infrastructure demands, power constraints, and specialized facility shortages. His analysis suggests these obstacles will drive innovations in energy solutions and cooling systems that will influence data center design through 2050.

Larry Lunetta, VP of Portfolio Solutions Marketing at HPE Aruba Networking, outlines key retail technology trends from NRF 2025, highlighting AI's growing importance in inventory management and personalized shopping experiences. His analysis shows how retailers are expanding their network infrastructure to support AI initiatives, including integrated Wi-Fi 7 and private 5G solutions, while bringing data processing capabilities directly into stores through GPU-enabled servers.

Amit Sanyal, Senior Director of Data Center Product Marketing at Juniper, outlines key networking trends for 2025, including increased hybrid cloud adoption and a shift from InfiniBand to Ethernet for AI deployments. He emphasizes the importance of energy optimization through efficient optical modules, liquid cooling solutions, and AI-driven facilities management systems in data centers.

Bob Friday from Juniper forecasts 2025 as the "year of AI connoisseurs" when enterprise customers will develop sophisticated understanding of AI's networking capabilities. Based on the progression from skepticism to acceptance since 2014, he anticipates numerous Proof of Concept implementations as organizations gain hands-on experience with AI network automation.

Nigel Alvares, VP of Global Marketing at Marvell, outlines three major data center predictions, including cloud providers moving to fully custom infrastructure and the evolution of AI cluster configurations — growing AI workloads will push organizations to adopt multi-site data centers with enhanced interconnect capabilities.

PacketLight's CEO Koby Reshef anticipates the rise of specialized AI cloud providers in 2025, offering GPU-on-demand services and requiring networks to support higher data rates up to 1.6T wavelengths. He emphasizes the need for enhanced security measures like layer-one encryption and quantum key distribution to safeguard AI operations while maintaining network performance.

Sanjay Uppal, SVP & GM, VeloCloud Division at Broadcom, outlines three phases of enterprise networking evolution, highlighting the emergence of AI networking and the unique challenges of generative AI workloads. Sanjay also introduces the VeloRAIN architecture that uses AI-based application identification and Dynamic Application-Based Slicing to enhance network performance for GenAI applications.

Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, presents from TEF 2025 on the $200 billion Ethernet switching market opportunity driven by AI infrastructure requiring multiple interconnected networks for GPUs and XPUs, with bandwidth growth accelerating from 30-40% to 70-80% CAGR. He projects data centers will exceed one billion ports within years, creating multi-billion dollar opportunities across LPO, LRO, ACC, AEC, and CPO transceiver technologies as the industry experiences 4x revenue increases alongside dramatic expansion in speeds and capacity.

Arihant Jain, Manager, Systems Engineering at Arista Networks, examines scale-out networking architectures and interconnect technologies while highlighting how power, cooling, and space constraints are increasingly driving data center network design decisions alongside traditional requirements. He emphasizes Ethernet's expanding role across scale-up and scale-out applications, anticipates 1.6 terabit deployments with hybrid cooling solutions by 2026, and identifies scale-across connectivity between geographically distributed data centers as a key deployment trend for the coming year.

Pete Del Vecchio, Data Center Switch Product Line Manager at Broadcom, presents at the Technology Exploration Forum for Internet Alliance 2025, highlighting how the event uniquely brings together the entire AI infrastructure ecosystem to address the massive scale of modern data centers, with some reaching 5 gigawatts and multi-million GPU clusters. He emphasizes the comprehensive optimization approach being applied across all components, from nanometer-scale silicon transistors to racks, as the industry collaborates to enable next-generation AI infrastructure capable of supporting systems the size of Manhattan.

Ravi Shah, Director, Corporate Strategy at Cisco Systems, discusses how AI use cases are driving unprecedented infrastructure adoption as hyperscalers deploy XPUs and GPUs requiring proportional networking growth across scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across architectures. He explains the industry's focus on achieving 400 gigabit speeds through ecosystem collaboration addressing engineering challenges, while emphasizing the forum's role in enabling thought leaders to leverage open standards like Ethernet and advance AI infrastructure development.

Baron Fung, Senior Research Director at Dell'Oro Group, examines data center infrastructure markets with emphasis on servers and connectivity, tracking the evolution from current 112 gigabit SerDes supporting 400 gigabit ports to emerging 224 gigabit SerDes enabling 800 gigabit speeds for GPU platforms. He highlights that accelerator platforms now advance every 18 months or less, driving the ecosystem toward Ethernet-based solutions and the upcoming transition to 440 gigabit SerDes networks to support next-generation AI and accelerated computing requirements.

Hadrien Louchet, Product Planner at Keysight Technologies, presents at a technology exploration forum on AI networking's future, noting that while 1.6T Ethernet deployment has begun and hyperscalers are planning for 3.2T Ethernet, the industry must navigate critical trade-offs between performance, power efficiency, reliability, and supply chain security as 400G signaling advances from lab to product. Louchet explains that Keysight, as a test and measurement expert, works with customers to understand testing requirements at these speeds and prepares products to support large-scale deployment of next-generation AI networking infrastructure.

Hani Daou, Business Development Manager at Multilane, presents on behalf of the Ethernet Alliance at the Technology Exploration Forum, discussing how Ethernet remains the preferred choice for scale-up and scale-out AI applications amid unprecedented demand for network connectivity, semiconductors, and testing. He emphasizes the forum's role as a critical venue for identifying technologies that must integrate seamlessly to address interoperability challenges and meet the demanding requirements of cloud service providers and end users with their growing appetite for AI-based applications.

Nathan Tracy, President of the OIF and representative from TE Connectivity, announces the publication of OIF's 448 gigabit framework document at the Ethernet Alliance's TEF 2025, marking the first deliverable from the project launched in August 2024. The framework establishes a common industry language for addressing challenges at 448 gigabit per second data rates, including modulation selection, reach requirements, AI fabric reliability demands, and the integration of electrical and optical modulation approaches.

Cathy Liu, SerDes Architect at OIF, presents the newly published CEI-448G framework, a collaborative achievement by OIF members across AI hyperscalers, system vendors, and component manufacturers that establishes common guidelines for next-generation AI interconnect networks. The framework serves as foundational work identifying future projects including CEI-448G XSR, VSR, and LR variants, while emphasizing the need for collaboration among standards bodies such as IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, OCP, SNIA, and UEC.

Kent Lusted, Distinguished Architect at Synopsys, discusses next generation Ethernet for AI at TEF, highlighting his role as champion for an IEEE 802.3 project focused on 400 gig electrical and optical signaling for AI networks optimized for radix scale-out use cases. He emphasizes the need for collaboration among hyperscalers, standards organizations like OIF, UEC, and SNIA, and component suppliers to address three major challenges for 448 and 400 gig Ethernet: faster time to market, optimal use of available information and materials, and recognition of AI's impact on daily life through search, recommendations, pattern recognition, and infrastructure.

Ashika Pandankeril Shaji, Manager System Architect at TE Connectivity, discusses the rapid evolution of Ethernet technology to 400 Gig speeds driven by AI network bandwidth demands and the significant technical challenges this transition presents, including shrinking channel budgets and increased sensitivity to impairments. She highlights how TE Connectivity addresses these challenges through advanced modulation techniques and improved connector designs, while emphasizing the value of industry collaboration at the TIP conference to solve complex engineering problems shaping the future of Ethernet and AI networks.

Pankaj Patel, CEO and co-founder of Nile, discusses the transition of major markets to new technologies like cloud services, and likens the adoption of NaaS to that of electric vehicles, which has been more gradual. At the same time, Patel points to the relatively rapid evolution of NaaS, especially with the advent of AI networking. He emphasizes the importance of AI in improving network operations and management.

Colin Bannon, CTO of BT Business, and Roy Chua, Principal and Founder of AvidThink, examine the changing AI landscape and its effects on network infrastructure, noting that future AI applications may require edge processing. They discuss the challenges in modeling AI network needs, emphasizing the importance of understanding use cases and their impact on network topology, while also exploring the complexities of AI model training and data movement.

Loi Nguyen, EVP and GM of Optical, highlights the enormous power demands of modern data centers and AI clusters, with future "gigawatt-class" facilities requiring energy comparable to major cities. Nguyen discusses the need for multi-site 400k+ node clusters connected by high-speed optics like Marvell's DCI Optics ZR and ZR+.

Nick Kucharewski, SVP and GM of Network Switching, highlights co-packaged optics (CPO) as a promising technology for scale-up networking, integrating fiber links directly into product packages for higher speed signals with lower power consumption and latency. Marvell's light engine provides to 51 Tbps bandwidth for scale-up switches and supports reliable large-scale deployment.

Raghib Hussain, President of Products and Technologies, highlights the growing trend of developing optimized AI infrastructure using custom silicon for data centers. Hussain discusses Marvell's partnerships with major tech giants like Amazon and Meta, emphasizing the value of customization in achieving power and cost savings at scale.

Will Chu, SVP and GM of Custom Compute and Storage BU, announces a partnership with major HBM (high bandwidth memory) providers to deliver custom HBM solutions for next-generation AI data centers. This enables significant reductions in power consumption, increased functionality, and improved memory capacity, resulting in better performance and enhanced TCO for Marvell's customers.

Ray Mota, CEO and Principal Analyst at ACG Research, discussed the growing interest in quantum computing for security, increasing focus on segment routing, AI infrastructure, and Ethernet vs Infiniband.

Amir Zmora, Founder and CEO of flexiWAN, speaks about AI/ML, network automation, and the concept of digital twins. He highlights that most companies are using AI for assistance and recommendations, not full network automation.

Chris Penrose, the Global Head Business Development - Telco at NVIDIA, presented the company's second annual AI and Telecom report, revealing that 56% of telecom companies view AI as crucial to their future success, up from 42% last year, and 66% plan to increase their AI infrastructure budget. NVIDIA will use these insights to shape its product development, focusing on enhancing customer experience and network operations.

Ahmad Danesh, Sr. Director of Product Management at Astera Labs, outlines three key challenges in data center infrastructure: AI workloads, real-time reasoning, and rapid deployment of new accelerators. Astera Labs addresses these issues through their Ethernet retimers, Smart Fabric switch, and PCIe 6 retimers, combined with their Cosmos software stack to enhance connectivity and observability.

Gopi Reddy Sirineni, CEO of Axiado, discusses the critical need for built-in security in modern computing platforms, especially AI servers. Axiado's hardware-based solutions for server control and management sections utilize platform root of trust and accelerated computing, offering robust defense for AI and x86-based systems.

Ram Velaga, GM and SVP of the Core Switching Group at Broadcom, highlights Ethernet's dominance in large GPU clusters for scale-out networking, noting its prevalence in backend networks for clusters of 10,000 to over 100,000 GPUs. Ram anticipates Ethernet's success in scale-up networking within racks, citing its ability to meet requirements and economic advantages.

Lucas Beran, Principal Analyst at Dell'Oro Group, examines the growing importance of data center liquid cooling technologies. He outlines advancements in single-phase and two-phase direct chip liquid cooling, as well as immersion cooling, to meet the demands of high-density computing and AI workloads.

Kevin Chang, Engineering Director of Hardware Platforms at Spirent, introduces an AI emulation solution for validating workloads on AI fabrics without needing actual GPUs. Chang showcases a new concept integrating OCP NIC 3.0 form factor into their GPU emulation system, enabling comprehensive testing of various system elements and network technologies.

Bill Brennan, President and CEO of Credo, highlights the energy savings possible with 800G Linear Receive Optics (LRO) for AI clusters.

Robert Shore, SVP of Marketing at Infinera, highlights challenges network operators face in providing longer reach connectivity between AI clusters. Infinera's solution involves the use of indium phosphide, a technology that enables the creation of a single integrated photonic circuit, reducing costs, increasing manufacturability, and lowering power.

Marvell VP of Product Marketing, Xi Wang, highlighted the rising demand for optical connectivity in AI cluster. Marvell has introduced a new product, Spica Gen2-T, a transmit-only DSP that enables a new type of optical module, the Transmit Retimed Optical (TRO) module, which can reduce power consumption by 40% while ensuring flexibility and scalability.

Loi Nguyen, EVP and GM of Optical at Marvell, unveiled their 3D SiPho engine, a silicon photonics engine that delivers 6.4 Tbps, enhancing speeds for AI applications. Featuring 200G I/O, the 3D SiPho Engine delivers 2x the bandwidth and input/output (I/O) bandwidth density, and 30% lower power per bit versus devices with 100 Gbps electrical and optical interfaces.

George Hervey, Principal Architect at Marvell, showcased their AI infrastructure solutions: a 51 Tbps switch, 800G AEC cables, and 800G optics for low-latency switching. The demonstration also highlighted a 51 Tbps platform with a liquid cooling option and another 51 Tbps platform using 64 800G OSFP modules.

George Hervey, Principal Architect at Marvell, showcased their AI infrastructure solutions: a 51 Tbps switch, 800G AEC cables, and 800G optics for low-latency switching. The demonstration also highlighted a 51 Tbps platform with a liquid cooling option and another 51 Tbps platform using 64 800G OSFP modules.

Sivers Photonics is supplying its DFB laser arrays for Ayar Labs’ SuperNova optical interconnect for AI/ML clusters, disaggregated data centers, 6G networks, phased array sensor systems and etc. Anders Storm, CEO from Sivers Semiconductors explains.

Ray Mota, CEO and Principal Analyst at ACG Research, discusses the importance of AI in managing security and anomaly detection in service providers and enterprises, emphasizing the need for a practical approach to using AI to address specific challenges related to security, storage, and network.

Vishal Shukla, CEO of Aviz Networks, highlights the dual role of AI in networking, which includes creating networks for AI workloads and enhancing network efficiency. He also discusses real-world examples of this in action at an Aviz customer, TensorWave.

Ali Shaikh, Chief Product Officer at Graphiant, highlights the shift towards data sovereignty and the role of networks in facilitating AI growth through data exchanges. Shaikh introduces the concept of carrier Network as a Service (NaaS), predicting that companies will need on-demand networks address connectivity of AI workloads.

Stephen Collins, CTO of ONUG, emphasized the significance of AI networking in the current market at the event, the importance of AI to network and security operations, and the challenges and constraints in working with and adopting AI.

Ben Baker, Senior Director of Cloud/SP Marketing at Juniper, anticipates that businesses will prefer on-premises AI data centers for enhanced control. He also predicts a rise in AI Ops for predictive maintenance, and the integration of AI-based LLMs in user interfaces.

Noam Mizrahi, EVP and Corporate CTO at Marvell, forecasts the growth of larger and more demanding AI clusters will require higher bandwidth connectivity and the development of ultra-complex custom silicon ASICs, optimized for specific use cases. Mizrahi also predicts a shift from training AI models to inference, necessitating a more optimized infrastructure with unique network features.

Özer Dondurmacıoğlu, VP Marketing at Nile, predicts a future of increased complexity in enterprise IT infrastructures due to more products at the edge, a shift towards consuming technologies as a service, and the rise of AI in services architecture.

Christopher Blackburn, System Architect & Director of Field Applications Engineering at Astera Labs, explores the challenges and future of AI networks, focusing on the diverse requirements of different network types and the need for optimization as networks expand. He discusses how Astera Labs' product line, including PCIe and Ethernet retimers, offers intelligent connectivity solutions to address channel challenges in various AI architectures.

Jiri Chaloupka, Principal Engineer Technical Marketing at Cisco Systems, explores the progression of internet technology towards AI-driven networks, emphasizing the need to build upon existing Ethernet standards while addressing new AI-specific challenges. He underscores the importance of industry collaboration and standardization to support the unique requirements of AI networks, including high bandwidth, low latency, and large-scale GPU interconnectivity.

Sameh Boujelbene, Vice President at Dell'Oro Group, examines the rapid evolution of AI workload networks, highlighting accelerated refresh cycles and increasing bandwidth demands. She discusses the competition between InfiniBand and Ethernet in the AI cluster market, noting Ethernet's growing adoption due to technological advancements and hyperscaler preferences.

Peter Jones, Chair of the Ethernet Alliance, discusses the Ethernet in the Age of AI Networking event, emphasizing industry collaboration to address challenges in meeting requirements. Jones expresses confidence in Ethernet's ability to overcome obstacles and anticipates that the event will lead to greater industry alignment in addressing AI networking challenges.

Moray McLaren, Principle Engineer at Google, explores Ethernet's capabilities in addressing interconnect challenges for machine learning networks, highlighting Google's use of an Ethernet-based proprietary network in their TPU systems. He suggests Ethernet's potential dominance in scale-out and host networks for ML applications, while acknowledging the need for alternative solutions in more latency-sensitive architectures.

Kent Lusted, 802.3dj Electrical Track Chair at IEEE, explores the ongoing development of Ethernet to address market demands and customer applications in AI, ML, and HPC. He examines the challenges of balancing component requirements and adapting Ethernet capabilities for future needs, emphasizing the importance of addressing both scale-out and scale-up networks in AI.

Mike Li, a Fellow at Intel, discusses high-speed networking advancements for AI applications, including 200 Gbps per lane Ethernet specifications and development of 800 Gbps/1.6 Tbps Ethernet. Li emphasizes Ethernet's importance for GPU acceleration and clustering architectures, while also highlighting ongoing work towards 400 Gbps per lane speeds and future generations reaching up to 6.4 Tbps.

Uri Elzur, GPU Networks and System Architecture at Intel, outlines the Ultra Ethernet Consortium's approach to addressing AI-related challenges in data center architecture and networking. He describes the consortium's collaboration with the Ethernet Alliance to enhance Ethernet's capabilities for AI applications through optional features like link-level retry and credit-based flow control.

Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, discussed the potential of CXL technology to compete with NVLink, emphasizing its importance in enhancing servers for AI and machine learning. Weckel also noted the rapidly growing demand for bandwidth, necessitating new high switches and multiple switches per rack, and highlighted the shift in spending from cloud to AI, likening it to the significant architectural shift brought about by cloud technology 20 years ago.

Sanjay Kumar, VP of Products and Marketing at Arrcus, introduced the company's solutions for enhancing AI and 5G capabilities for network operators, including data center solutions — a network fabric overlay FlexMCN and SRv6 mobile user plane (MUP) technology developed for SoftBank Mobile. Kumar also highlights ArcIQ, a solution offering end-to-end network visibility, and discussed the role of 5G as a transport mechanism for AI and ML workloads, emphasizing the company's commitment to optimizing GPU utilization, minimizing latency, and reducing total cost of ownership.

Bill Brennan, President and CEO of Credo Semi, forecasts 2023 as the pivotal year for AI, with the interconnect bandwidth bottleneck in the AI sector driving demand for higher bandwidth and denser networking. Credo Semi is concentrating on resolving this connectivity issue for the AI cluster backend network, which has led to a swift global shift to 100 Gig single lane connections and is expected to hasten the development of next-generation technologies.

Sameh Boujelbene, Vice President of Dell'Oro Group, highlights the emergence of large AI applications necessitating a new AI backend network, presenting a significant market opportunity. By 2027, two-thirds of these backend network ports will be 1.6T, and all will be at least 800 gig, indicating the industry's growing interest in the AI Network market, which will be further explored in an upcoming AI Network report.

Brad Booth, an independent Ethernet and Optical Technology Advisor, discussed the rapid expansion of AI data centers, driven by AI's increasing capabilities and its adoption by hyperscale and cloud market players. He highlighted the high demand for GPUs and optical modules, the impact on memory devices, and the surge in innovation, including the exploration of new materials for optics and memory elements to meet bandwidth demands.

Radha Nagarajan, SVP and CTO of Optical and Cloud at Marvell, emphasized the importance of optical connectivity in managing data transport as AI clusters increase in size. With the introduction of a 1.6 DSP for the 1.60 generation, Marvell is ready to meet the growing demand for optical connectivity solutions in AI-centric data centers.

Hani Daou, Business Development Manager at Multilane, emphasized the need for data center upgrades due to increasing compute power requirements, with investments being directed towards technologies like 100 terabit AS6 and 200 gigabit per Lambda Optics. Multilane, currently experiencing high demand for its 800 gig systems and copper interconnect test solutions, is well-positioned to support semiconductor vendors, cloud service providers, and interconnect vendors with a strategic roadmap for R&D investment and bandwidth scaling.

Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, emphasized the need for server base refreshment to meet AI server power requirements and the growing interest in liquid cooling solutions for server heat management at a recent technology show. He also highlighted the increasing influence of AI on server and data center designs, likening its potential impact to the democratization of compute by the Open Compute Project (OCP) a decade ago, while expressing skepticism towards immersion cooling due to its data center limitations.

At the OCP 2023 event,Thad Omura, SVP of Business and Corporate Development at Astera Labs, discussed the company's advancements in scaling AI platforms and cloud infrastructure, including enabling PCI Express infrastructure to scale with increasing GPUs and AI accelerators. Astera Labs has also partnered with Lenovo and AMD to offer unprecedented memory capacity using their CXL memory expanders, and showcased their industry-leading ethernet retim used for active electrical cases, allowing high-speed connectivity in the rack and from switch to switch.

Nathan Tracy, President of OIF, recently discussed the organization's future plans, including the development of 200G electrical and 100G linear optics, CMIS activities, and the importance of co-packaging for AI data centers. Tracy also introduced a new project aimed at creating energy-efficient interconnects to deliver industry-standard interoperable solutions for next-generation AI data centers.

Fungible was founded in 2015 to revolutionize the performance, economics, reliability, and security of scale-out data centers. In this video, Pradeep Sindhu, Co-Founder and CEO of Fungible, shares observations about scale-out data centers and the key innovations of Fungible’s Data Processing Unit (Fungible DPU™) which has been positioned as the “third socket” in data centers, complementing the CPU and GPU.