Ciena continues to push technology boundaries by bringing to market a 1.6 Tb/s Coherent-Lite pluggable to help cloud and data center providers cope with the expected growth in cloud, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) related traffic.
To address high-performance data center fabric and campus applications, Ciena’s industry-leading WaveLogic 6 Nano (WL6n) will now be offered as both 1.6 Tb/s and 800G coherent pluggable solutions. The 3nm coherent ASIC used in WL6n enables the 1.6 Tb/s Coherent-Lite pluggable offering through support of dual 800G data paths within a single DSP chip. Coherent-Lite refers to the power and latency-optimized coherent design, intended for shorter reach, data center applications.
“The rapid adoption of AI and machine learning applications will create a new wave in global bandwidth demand,” said Dr. Vlad Kozlov, Chief Analyst at LightCounting. “Cloud and data center providers are responding by creating high-capacity connections inside and around data centers. Ciena’s 1.6 Tb/s coherent pluggable offering, powered by advanced 3nm CMOS, brings new levels of scale and flexibility in how data centers are built.”
“As capacity scales to higher rates, traditional data center technologies will start to hit physical limits, and coherent technology will begin to make its way into and around the data center. We saw the same phenomenon play out in wide area networks,” said Dino DiPerna, Senior Vice President of Global Research & Development, Ciena. “Building on the success of our WaveLogic innovations, our 1.6 Tb/s coherent pluggable will deliver the performance, footprint, and power efficiency that our customers are looking for to support new data center designs.”
Ciena’s WL6n Coherent ASIC will be available for electro-optic integration by the end of this year. The WL6n 1.6 Tb/s pluggable prototype will be showcased in Ciena’s booth at ECOC 2024 (A14).
