Post-Infinera integration, the Swedish vendor’s new growth target is data center interconnect
Nokia’s optical pitch this year at OFC was crystalline, more intentional
that landed somewhere between breakthrough and inevitability.
Nokia’s new building block based approach
A diverse set of new applications have emerged in effect of AI, bringing explosive and variegated demands for bandwidth, reach and efficiency. Engineers have been tackling this by building coherent optical products around the applications. The applications came first, and the optical products supporting it followed next. As opposed to off-the-shelf solutions, this involves significant engineering work, not to mention additional time and resources.
Now as AI is putting pressure on hyperscalers to lower cost and power per bit, a new approach is required that offers a fair medium between the one-size-fits-all and bespoke approach.
With a new line of optical assets that range from short-reach campus data center interconnect (DCI) to subsea transmission, Nokia is proposing a new development methodology. Nokia is latching on to two key vectors of optical innovation: optical line systems and coherent optical solutions, to resolve the industry’s power, cost, and space crunch.
“We are at the right place, at the right time, with the right people, the right technology, and again, the right vertical integration to be able to win,” said David Heard, president of Network Infrastructure at Nokia, at a media briefing on Day 3 of OFC in Los Angeles.
Heard was specifically referring to Nokia’s recent buyout of San Jose-based Infinera, a maker of optical networking solutions, which brought in a talented team of engineers to Nokia’s Optical Networks business, sharpening the vendor’s focus on AI data center back-end network market. Together, the teams have co-developed a slate of coherent transport solutions built around four digital signal processors (DSPs) and 13 new coherent solutions.
Key to this is a new “building block” approach which Timothy Doiron, VP of solutions marketing, and Manish Gulyani, VP and head of marketing for network infra, explained in an exclusive interview with RCR Wireless News at OFC.
The new suite with its DSPs and already application-optimized pluggables is classified under four technology blocks named after the great lakes — Ontario, Huron, Superior — and Pacific. These can be mixed and matched to create a custom fit for any number of implementations, without the engineering work.
“Each of these is indexed to lower Capex, Opex, and particularly power, performance, and reliability,” Heard highlighted.
According to Nokia, the new coherent optical solutions, built using Indium Phosphide, borrowed from Infinera, and its own Silicon Photonics are designed to deliver up to 70% lower total cost of ownership (TCO) through reduced cost, space and energy consumption. The number comes from Nokia’s internal lab testing.
“When you hear about us talking about four engines, but 13 applications, it’s really because we’re taking those same building blocks and repackaging them in different ways to drive value and efficiencies in our development,” highlighted Ron Johnson, SVP and general manager.
The announcement is a bit forward-looking at this point, as the sampling timeline has been set for mid-2027, with general availability in H2.
Same footprint, more fiber
Further to that, Nokia also announced a new multi-rail in-line amplifier hut which it describes as the “highest density solution” in the market. Designed to support multi-fiber deployments, the amplifier can provide up to 40 fold density improvement, the company claimed.
“This is all about density,” said Robert Shore, head of Optical Networks Solution Marketing at Nokia. “How can I create technical solutions that can enable us to enable our customers to amplify more fibers in this physical footprint? So they don’t have to modify and upgrade their infrastructure.”
As fiber deployments race on, there is a looming limit which in the engineering community is known as Shannon Limit. It states that a finite number of bits can be squeezed into one optical fiber.
One way to avoid the fiber capacity plateau is to use consoles that can cram more fibers within the same footprint.
Nokia’s multi-line optical line system can fit 160 ILAs per rack. “What we’re doing is condensing it into a single rack unit for four inline amplifiers, eight bidirectional fibers in a single rack unit.”
Both Ciena and Cisco boast similar solutions on their portfolios, but Shore was quick to draw a line of distinction between theirs and Nokia’s. “You’ve probably heard some of our competitors out there talking about their version of this solution. They’re getting 128 ILAs per rack. We’re getting 160 ILAs per rack,” he said.
