News: Optoelectronics
14 March 2025
OIF advances interoperability at OFC with live demos, expert insights and cross-industry collaboration
As network demands grow more complex, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is to showcase interoperability breakthroughs with live demonstrations and expert discussions at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition (OFC 2025) in San Francisco, CA, USA (1–3 April).
With participation from 35 member companies, OIF’s interoperability demos in booth 5745 are showcasing seamless multi-vendor integration driving high-performance networking, energy efficiency and AI infrastructure. Highlights include the latest 800G technology in the pluggable coherent optics demonstration; a live Common Electrical I/O (CEI)-448G, 224G and 112G demo advancing next-gen data-center connectivity; Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) plug-and-play interoperability; and cutting-edge Energy Efficient Interfaces (EEI) and co-packaging solutions for AI compute and external laser integration.
OIF is also leading and participating in expert panels on AI networking, optical interconnects, scalable architectures and what’s beyond 200Gb/s signaling.
“OIF’s live interoperability demonstrations at OFC 2025 are the result of months of dedicated collaboration among our member companies, reflecting the immense effort required to bring these cutting-edge technologies to life in a real-world, multi-vendor environment,” says Jeff Hutchins, OIF Physical & Link Layer (PLL) Working Group EEI vice chair and secretary/treasurer (Ranovus). “Interoperability isn’t just a goal — it’s a necessity for scaling next-generation networks. These demos provide the industry with a first-hand look at the progress being made to ensure seamless integration across coherent optics, electrical interfaces, next-generation EEI, ELSFP, CMIS and beyond.”
Live interoperability demonstrations
With AI, cloud expansion and disaggregated architectures reshaping connectivity, OIF’s demo in booth 5745 provides an in-depth look at the technologies that will define the next decade of networking:
- 800ZR, 400ZR and Multi-Span Optics – Optical Breakthroughs: Better Than Before
The pluggable coherent optics demonstration showcases progress in the latest advancements in pluggable coherent optics interoperability, offering a comprehensive view of their capabilities and applications. The single-span demo highlights include even more 800ZR multi-vendor DSP interop as well as OIF’s foundational 400ZR application. Multi-span connections include OpenZR+, 100ZR and 800G OpenROADM (PCS) over multiple networks, including booth-to-booth collaborations with the Ethernet Alliance and OpenROADM MSA.
- CEI-448G, 224G and 112G – Driving Innovation and Collaboration for Future-Oriented Data Centers
OIF is uniting interoperability and innovation at the electrical interface with a suite of 224Gbps and 112Gbps CEI multi-vendor demonstrations spanning a variety of applications, enabling next-generation electrical and optical connectivity. OIF’s live 448G demo highlights the opportunities and challenges of hyperscalers to scale AI networks as it continues to build upon its previous CEI-224G demonstrations, which include a growing diversity of link types from Very Short Reach (VSR) to Long Reach (LR) and Linear interfaces. A joint demonstration with the EEI track will display the breadth and depth of retimed, half-retimed (RTLR) and Unretimed (Linear) pluggable optics with interoperability from multiple vendors over various link types.
- CMIS – Enabling Multi-Vendor Interop
OIF members will demonstrate physical layer management interoperability, enabled by CMIS, across diverse network equipment and pluggable modules including transceivers and cables. The demo includes the CMIS industry-standard management interface for a common network control platform, showing interoperability among different plug types, switches/routers and test-measurement equipment, all from different vendors and all operating using the CMIS family of specification documents.
- EEI and Co-Packaging – Revolutionizing Connectivity
OIF members are presenting both live and conceptual demonstrations of next-generation EEI solutions for AI compute, along with live External Laser Small-Form-Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) demos highlighting advancements in external laser sources critical for co-packaged architectures.
OIF members participating in the demo include: Accelight Technologies Inc, Adtran, Alphawave Semi, Anritsu Corp, AOI, Astera Labs, Cadence Design Systems Inc, CICT/Accelink, Ciena, Cisco, Coherent Corp., Eoptolink Technology, EXFO, HGGenuine, Hisense, Infinera (now part of Nokia), Juniper Networks, Keysight Technologies, Lessengers, MACOM Technology Solutions, Marvell, Molex, MultiLane, Nubis Communications Inc, O-Net Technologies, Precision Optical Technologies Inc, Samtec, Semtech, Senko Advanced Components, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Synopsys Inc, TE Connectivity, TeraHop US, US Conec and Wilder Technologies.
OIF at OFC 2025: Show Floor Program Panels
In addition to its live in-booth demonstrations, OIF is leading and participating in the following expert panel sessions featuring discussions on coherent optics, AI-driven networking and what’s beyond 200Gb/s signaling:
2 April (4–5pm PT, Theater I) — ‘Coherent Optics Unleashed: 400ZR Success to 800ZR/LR Advancements and 1600ZR/ZR+ Kick-off – An OIF Update’
- Panelists: Josef Berger (Marvell), Doug Cattarusa (Cisco), Sebastien Gareau (Ciena), David Hillerkuss (Nokia) and Jason Wang (Google).
3 April (12:30–1:30pm PT, Theater II) — ‘Optical Interconnects for AI’
- Moderator: Tom Issenhuth, OIF Market Awareness & Education Committee co-chair PLL (Huawei Technologies Inc);
- Panelists: Ashkan Seyedi (Nvidia), Chris Cole (Coherent), Jeff Hutchins, OIF PLL Working Group EEI vice chair and secretary/treasurer (Ranovus) and Tom Palkert, OIF editor (MACOM).
3 April (1:45–2:45pm PT, Theater I) — ‘Moving Beyond 200Gb/s Signaling and the Future of AI Systems’
- Panelist: Nathan Tracy, OIF president (TE Connectivity).
