OFC 2025: Keysight and Coherent's 200G lane multimode VCSEL technology enhances network efficiency

Keysight Technologies and Coherent collaborated on a 200G multimode technology demonstration that will be showcased for the first time at OFC, in San Francisco, California. The 200G per lane vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology provides higher data transfer rates and addresses industry demand for higher bandwidth in data centers.

AI/ML deployment is driving extreme growth in the amount of data transfer in data centers. The cost of optical interconnects is an ever-growing portion of the Capex of the data center, while the power consumption of the optical interconnects is an ever-growing portion of Opex. 200G multimode VCSELs revolutionize data transfer and network efficiency, offering the following benefits compared to single-mode transmission:

Increased Bandwidth: 200 Gbps/lane doubles the data throughput of the current highest speed multimode interconnects. 
Power Efficiency: Significantly lower power-per-bit relative to single-mode alternatives driving down electrical power operational expense and helping large-scale data centers minimize their environmental impact.
Cost Efficiency: Multimode VCSELs are less costly to manufacture than single-mode technologies, providing lower capital outlay for short-reach data links.
Compatible Network Architecture: AI pods and clusters require many high-speed, short-reach interconnects to share data amongst GPUs, aligning well with the strength of 200G multimode VCSELs.

The 200G multimode demonstration consists of Keysight’s new wideband multimode sampling oscilloscope technology,  The demo showcases the feasibility and capability of Coherent’s new VCSEL technology as well as Keysight’s ability to characterize and validate this technology.

Dr. Joachim Peerlings, Vice President and General Manager of Keysight’s Network and Data Center Solutions Group, said: “We are pleased with the progress the industry is making in bringing 200G multimode technology to market. Our close collaboration with Coherent enabled another milestone in high-speed connectivity. The industry will benefit from a more efficient and cost-effective technology to address their business-critical AI/ML infrastructure deployment in the data center.”