Cooperation agreement targets next-generation vRAN fronthaul data centers with all-optical transmission and all-optical switching
FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) and NewPhotonics LTD (“NewPhotonics”), a leader in advanced integrated photonics, today announced a joint research and development collaboration to advance photonic technologies for LPO (Linear-drive Pluggable Optics), CPO (Co-packaged Optics) and All-Optics Switch Fabric. This photonic-electronic convergence technology with high-speed optical communication and optical switching technology enables low latency and low power consumption in AI data centers and mobile fronthaul infrastructures. The technologies will support SoftBank in AI data center and mobile fronthaul infrastructure with NewPhotonics’ patented technologies combined with the Photonics Integrated Chip (PIC) for reliable all-optical communication and optical fabric switching.
The technology aims to improve the performance of the GPU/CPU/switch fabric with PIC and low-latency optical connectivity and will also address power consumption and capacity bottlenecks in AI cluster workloads based on high-speed optical communication and optical switching technology. NewPhotonics’ patented optical SerDes (serializer/deserializer) enables higher density and low latency data transmission in mobile fronthaul and data centers.
The co-packaging of advanced optical technologies delivers increased speed and energy efficiency, which are critical in redesigning data centers for high-performance computing and vector processing applications. In addition, the LPO technology realized by incorporating the NewPhotonics PIC into the optical transceiver enables longer distance transmission than previous LPO technology. Applying NewPhotonics’ LPO technology to mobile fronthaul is expected to reduce processing delays, lower power consumption, and extend the range of data transport devices.
Ryuji Wakikawa, head of the SoftBank Research Institute of Advanced Technology, said:
“We believe this partnership with NewPhotonics is necessary for next-generation infrastructure. Through our collaboration, we will transform AI data center and cellular network infrastructure using optoelectronic convergence technologies that increase speed, distance limitation, capacity, and most importantly, deliver sustainability gains that will give SoftBank a significant advantage and market leadership.”
Yaniv Ben Haim, Managing Director of NewPhotonics, added: “Our new cooperation agreement with Softbank is an important milestone for our company and the industry to advance optical interconnect technology in the CPO and pluggable areas that meet the needs of modern computing and AI infrastructures. We remain committed to breaking the boundaries of optical communications by reducing latency and power consumption at scalable distances. This partnership demonstrates our confidence in the impact of all-optical connectivity on the future of AI and 6G with our patented photonics innovations.”
Information about Softbank
Guided by the SoftBank Group’s corporate philosophy of “Information Revolution – Happiness for everyone,” SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) operates telecommunications and IT businesses in Japan and around the world. Building on its strong business foundation, SoftBank Corp. is expanding into non-telecommunications areas in line with its “Beyond Carrier” growth strategy and further expanding its telecommunications business by leveraging the power of 5G/6G, IoT, Digital Twin, and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) solutions, including stratospheric telecommunications based on the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS). In addition to building AI data centers and developing its own LLMs specialized in the Japanese language with one trillion parameters, SoftBank is using AI to improve the performance of radio access networks (AI-RAN) with the goal of becoming a next-generation social infrastructure provider. For more information, visit https://www.softbank.jp/en/
Information about NewPhotonics
NewPhotonics is a fabless semiconductor company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It designs, develops and manufactures photonic integrated circuits (PIC) that push the boundaries of optical connectivity and processing for an entirely new concept of all-optical computer networking and data transmission. NewPhotonics was founded in 2020. It is privately held and privately funded. For more information, visit www.newphotonics.com.
Press contact:
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