en.Wedoany.com Reported - Bill Gartner, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Optical Systems and Optical Business Unit at Cisco Systems, analyzes the complex architecture underpinning modern AI infrastructure. In his technical analysis, Gartner points out that AI data centers require fundamentally different network designs compared to traditional applications, with capacity demands reaching 500 times that of traditional wide area networks.

AI infrastructure comprises three distinct network domains: scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across. Within these, GPU interconnection within racks currently still relies on copper interfaces, but optical solutions may replace copper connections in the future. Capacity requirements vary across each network layer, from intra-rack to inter-data center. Coherent pluggable optics play a key role in enabling long-distance, high-capacity data center interconnects. Cisco leverages P200 silicon and deep buffer routing technology to address AI networking challenges. Optical technology is evolving along a path from 400G to 1.6T and beyond. Additionally, emerging issues surrounding co-packaged optics (CPO) and near-packaged optics (NPO) for future scale-up networks have arisen.

Gartner also introduced Cisco's deployment milestones and discussed ongoing industry efforts to standardize optical interfaces for next-generation AI workloads. Related topics cover the three core network elements of AI infrastructure architecture, scale-up networks (intra-rack GPU interconnection), scale-out networks (extending beyond single-rack capacity), scale-across networks (inter-data center interconnection), Cisco's P200 silicon and deep buffer routing solutions, the deployment and evolution of coherent pluggable optics, and the prospects for transitioning scale-up networks from copper to optical solutions.

This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com