IOWN’s all-photonic network vision

What is the best way to send large amounts of data between locations? Its a question made all the more relevant with the advent of AI, and one that has been preoccupying the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) Global Forum that has now over 160 member companies and organisations

Masahisa KawashimaOptical networking has long established itself as the high-speed communications technology of choice for linking data centres or large enterprises’ sites.

The IOWN Global Forum aims to take optical networking a step further by enabling an all-optical network, to reduce the energy consumption and latency of communication links. Latency refers to the time it takes transmitted data to start arriving at the receiver site.

"The IOWN all-photonic network is the infrastructure for future enterprise networking," says Masahisa Kawashima, IOWN technology director, IOWN development office, NTT Technology working group chair, IOWN Global Forum.

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Glenn Wellbrock’s engineering roots

After four decades shaping optical networking, Glenn Wellbrock has retired. He shares his career highlights, industry insights, and his plans to embrace a quieter life of farming and hands-on projects in rural Kansas.

Glenn Wellbrock’s (pictured) fascination with telecommunications began at an early age. “I didn’t understand how it worked, and I wanted to know,” he recalls.

Wellbrock’s uncle had a small, rural telephone company where he worked while studying, setting the stage for his first full-time job at telecom operator, MCI. Wellbrock entered a world of microwave and satellite systems; MCI was originally named Microwave Communications Incorporated.

“They were all ex-military guys, and I’m the rookie coming out of school trying to do my best and learn,” says Wellbrock.

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John Bowers: We are still at the dawn of photonics

Professor John Bowers has been a key contributing figure in the development of silicon photonics. In an interview, he reflects on his career, the technical advancements shaping silicon photonics, and its expanding role.

After 38 years at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Professor John Bowers (pictured) is stepping away from teaching and administrative roles to focus on research.

He welcomes the time it will free for biking and golf. He will also be able to linger, not rush, when travelling. On a recent trip to Saudi Arabia, what would have centered around a day-event became a week-long visit.

Bowers' career includes significant contributions to laser integration and silicon photonics, mentoring some 85 PhD students, and helping found six start-ups, two of which he was the CEO.

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Lumentum's optical circuit switch for AI data centres

Part 3: Data Centre Switching

The resurgence of optical circuit switches for use in data centres is gaining momentum, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) workloads that require scalable connectivity.

Peter Roorda

Lumentum is one of several companies that showcased an optical circuit switch at the OFC event in San Francisco in March.

Lumentum's R300 switch connects optically the 300 input ports to any of the 300 output ports. The optical circuit switch uses micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), tiny mirrors that move electrostatically, to direct light from an input port to one of the 300 output ports.

The R300 addresses the network needs of AI data centres, helping link large numbers of AI accelerator chips such as graphics processor units (GPUs).

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Tomahawk 6: The industry’s first 100-terabit switch chip

Part 2: Data Centre Switching

Peter Del Vecchio, product manager for the Tomahawk switch family at Broadcom, outlines the role of the company’s latest Tomahawk 6 Ethernet switch chip in AI data centres.

Peter Del Vecchio

Broadcom is now shipping samples of its Tomahawk 6, the industry’s first 102.4-terabit-per-second (Tbps) Ethernet switch chip.

The chip highlights AI's impact on Ethernet networking switch chip design since Broadcom launched its current leading device, the 51.2-terabit Tomahawk 5.

The Tomahawk 6 is more evolutionary, rather than a complete change, notes Del Vecchio.

The design doubles bandwidth and includes enhanced networking features to support AI scale-up and scale-out networks.

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Oriole’s fast optical reconfigurable network

Part 1: Data Centre Switching

• Start-up Oriole Networks has developed a photonic network to link numerous accelerator chips in an artificial intelligence (AI) data centre.

• The fast photonic network is reconfigurable every 100 nanoseconds and is designed to replace tiers of electrical switches.

• Oriole says its photonic networking saves considerable power and ensures the network is no longer a compute bottleneck.

Georgios Zervas, CTO of Oriole Networks.

In a London office bathed in spring sunlight, the team from Oriole Networks, a University College London (UCL) spin-out, detailed its vision for transforming AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centres.

Oriole has developed a networking solution, dubbed Prism, that uses fast reconfigurable optical circuit switches to replace the tiers of electrical packet switches used to connect racks of AI processors in the data centre.

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OFC 2025 industry reflections - Final Part

Gazettabyte has been asking industry figures for their thoughts after attending the OFC conference held in San Francisco.

In the final part, Arista’s Vijay Vusirikala and Andy Bechtolsheim, Chris Doerr of Aloe Semiconductor, Adtran’s Jörg-Peter Elbers, and Omdia’s Daryl Inniss share their learnings. Vusirikala, Doerr, and Elbers all participated in OFC’s excellent Rump Session.

Muir Woods National Monument, outside San Francisco

Vijay Vusirikala, Distinguished Lead, AI Systems and Networks, and Andy Bechtolsheim, Chief Architect, at Arista Networks.

OFC 2025 wasn't just another conference. The event felt like a significant momentum-gaining inflexion point, buzzing with an energy reminiscent of the Dot.com era optical boom.

This palpable excitement, reflected in record attendance and exhibitor numbers, was accentuated for the broader community by the context set at Nvidia’s GTC event held two weeks before OFC, highlighting the critical role optical technologies play in enabling next-generation AI infrastructure. 

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