448G Optical Interconnect Outlook: IPEC Workshop at the 2025 OCP EMEA Summit

The 2025 OCP EMEA Summit, a premier industry event held in Dublin, Ireland from April 29 to 30, 2025, brought together global technical leaders to explore the evolving requirements of optical interconnects in AI clusters and data centers.

Co-hosted by the International Photonics & Electronics Committee (IPEC) and the Open Compute Project (OCP), the summit served as a key follow-up to OFC 2025—held earlier in April 2025 in San Francisco—further underscoring the growing significance of data center applications in shaping the future of optical networks and artificial intelligence and highlighting the urgent call for breakthrough technologies, strategic planning, and global collaboration. In terms of high-speed computing short-reach optical interconnects, discussions revealed that 224G/lane technology is now commercially viable, while 448G/lane has become a key industry focus for next-generation innovation.

Workshop Theme

The workshop is themed “Optical Interconnects for AI Clusters & Data Centers: From Today to 400G/Lane – Workshop hosted by IPEC”. The IPEC develops open optoelectronic standards and strategic roadmaps, while the OCP drives open hardware innovations for scalable data center infrastructure. Key topics include scale-out and scale-up networks, emerging form factors (CPO, NPO, LPO), cost reduction strategies, transition points from electrical to optical interconnects, high-speed solutions like 400G/lane, and other innovations.

The session also highlighted IPEC’s latest AI-focused initiatives, including the 400G eSR8 Module Project and the Interoperable 1.6Tb/s Project, addressing technical requirements and interoperability challenges in next-generation AI infrastructures. With 224G/lane technology now achieving widespread commercialization, the VCSEL technology has emerged as a key industry research focus, owing to its superior power density, energy efficiency, and beam quality. IPEC is committed to driving innovation in high-speed multimode fiber interconnects, accelerating the commercialization of 800G to 1.6T optical modules, and fostering sustainable growth across the global optoelectronic industry.

Schedule

This workshop was chaired by Eric Bernier, Chief Editor of the IPEC Technical Committee and Fellow at HiSilicon Optoelectronics. Distinguished speakers from leading industry players — including LightCounting, Accelink, CIG, Fujitsu, Yamaichi, Furukawa, and SilOriX GmbH — shared insights on AI optical interconnect trends and future prospects and explored the development pathways for 224G/lane and 448G/lane optoelectronic technologies.

Guest Profiles

• Roy Rubenstein

Roy Rubenstein is a consultant at LightCounting and has been a part of the firm since 2006. He is also the publisher of the online magazine, Gazettabyte, and has been researching and writing about the telecom and semiconductor industries for 30 years.

• Eric Bernier

Eric Bernier is the team leader for the HiSilicon Optoelectronics at Huawei Technologies Canada. He is responsible for exploring, developing new and innovative photonic components. Through his 20 years career, Eric developed a portfolio of more than 35 granted patents and more than 70 publications. He is known for his record breaking complex Silicon photonic systems. Prior to Huawei, Eric held the position of CTO (VP Technology) at the Canadian Advanced Network.

• Muhammad Sarwar

Muhammad Sarwar is a Distinguished Global Planner at Fujitsu Network Communications, where he is a key contributor to Fujitsu’s network solutions strategy, architecture and portfolio. He is responsible for strategic planning, product roadmaps and core architecture within the optical transport portfolio. He also specializes in new product incubation and strategic program management. He earned a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in New York and is author of over ten U.S. patents related to data communications, optical transport, and network security.

• Tiger Ninomiya

Tiger Ninomiya is currently a Principal Technologist at Accelink USA Corporation, where he actively engages with Accelink’s latest technologies, including optical transceivers for datacom and telecom, as well as other optical components, modules, and subsystems. With over 12 years of experience in fiber optics, telecom, and datacom, he actively participates in standard groups and industry consortia, such as IEC, OIF, IEEE, ITU-T, and MSAs such as QSFP-DD, SFP-DD, OSFP, and LPO. He has held leadership roles in organizations such as IEC, TIA, and COBO. In the past, Tiger was heavily involved in the development and standardization of VSFF fiber optic connectors.

• Michael Xin

Michael Xin is the VP of Sales and Marketing at CIG USA, responsible for North America Market for CIG’s Photonics Business Unit. Prior to CIG, Michael was a Director of Corporate Business Development at Oclaro, Inc. responsible for corporate strategy and M&A. He came to Oclaro through the Opnext acquisition in 2012. After obtaining his PhD, Michael was employed as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University.

• Toshiyasu Ito

Toshiyasu Ito is a fellow of Yamaichi Electronics Co., Ltd. After 2004, he began the design of telecommunication market connectors. After 2008, he joined CFP MSA, and made the form factors of specifications for CFP2, CFP4, CFP8, DSFP-MSA connectors and mechanisms. He is studying high-speed design and mechanical design of these connectors and mezzanine connectors for 112G, 224G, and 448G PAM now.

• Hideyuki Nasu

Hideyuki Nasu joined Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. In 1995. He has worked for parallel-optical modules for optical interconnects. He is a Fellow of Photonics Laboratory, Chiba, Japan, as well as a Guest Lecturer of Kyoto Institute of Technology. He is an author or coauthor of 77 patents and more than 250 publications. He received the PhD degree from the College of Science and Technology, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2006. He is a Fellow of Optica, Senior Member of IEEE, Senior Member of IEICE. He has been serving the OFC2026 D3 Subcommittee Chair and others. He has received 6 technical awards. He is a member of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and the Innovative Optical Wireless Networks (IOWN).

• Carsten Eschenbaum

Carsten Eschenbaum received his Diploma and MEng in “Microsystems Technology” from the university of applied science Kaiserslautern. He started his doctoral research with Prof. U. Lemmer at the Light Technology Institute (LTI) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). In 2014 he became head of the sensor system group at the Light Technology Institute (LTI). The focus of his work was the development fully printed optoelectronic sensors. In 2019 he joined the institute of photonics and quantum electronics (IPQ) at KIT, heading the hybrid photonic integrated circuit group. Since 2021, he is the CTO and co-founder of SilOriX GmbH. SilOriX is committed to developing SOH devices for optical communication.

About the Workshop

IPEC hosted this workshop on Day 2 of the OCP EMEA Summit, taking place from 8:30 to 12:00 CEST on April 30, 2025 at the Convention Centre Dublin. The event featured thought-provoking presentations from industry leaders followed by an expert panel discussion, delivering valuable insights into the next-generation photonics technologies and innovations.

Missed the live event? Explore session highlights: https://www.opencompute.org/summit/emea-summit/co-located-events

**About IPEC**

IPEC is an international standards organization that is committed to developing open optoelectronic standards and delivering strategic roadmap reports. IPEC focuses on standardizing solutions in optical chips, optical/electrical components, and optical modules. Markets addressed by IPEC include 5G, IoT and AI.

IPEC is open to any interested party who wishes to join. All members have the opportunity to participate in developing all IPEC standards and reports on a non-discriminatory basis. The process of developing these standards and reports is transparent to all members. IPEC is registered in Switzerland.