A growing demand for higher data rates: understanding the 400G active optical cable

In this Vitex Talks segment, we’re diving into the catalog of the 400G AOCs (active optical cables) and why it’s important for service providers, especially those in cloud or telecom industries. With the demand for higher data rates continuing to grow, it’s crucial to understand the options available to avoid any rainy-day scenarios.

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Intro

Hey everybody, this is Craig from Vitex, and today we’re going to shine a light on the 400G AOC. If you’re a service provider, specifically in cloud or telecom, you’re going to want to listen in to hear how you can avoid some rainy day scenarios.

Recap of the driving forces

We talked already about the service providers are really pushing this as a driving force. Cloud right now is really leading this way in 400G, but telecom is running really close behind them.

What does that really mean and why is this important to you?

So what does that really mean and why is this important to you? Really it’s like I’ve got to show you the money, right? What is this happening in the router space? And as we all know, routers and switches, they need interconnective devices to connect them all, so let’s see what the equipment is driving here. In the overall market space, we’re looking by like 2026, about $76 billion in the overall market. The 400G is going to be about $17 billion as the estimate for that space. And we’re looking at a growth anywhere from where we are now and around like 15% to about 30 to 35% by the end of this five-year period. That’s going to give you lots of options as you’re upgrading your network.

Pushing mobile transport

And the driving forces, well, they’re really coming from customer demand. There’s a huge amount of mobile need, which is pushing mobile transport, right? Pushing things to the edge, pushing things to the core. This 400G is really needed to move across from where we are right now at 100.

Data heavy media

And again, this is coming from a lot of the customers with really data-heavy media, right? New streaming services, new video services are pushing this need to a very higher and higher data rate. And we’re going to continue to see that.

From home and hybrid models

As we went through COVID, we saw a lot of from home and hybrid models as we’re all starting to get back to work or get back into real life. And some people estimated that this was going to drop back to pre-COVID levels, and that’s not what we’re seeing. We’re seeing it in work, in offices, in schools. There’s really still home and hybrid going on, so this need for data is really there. And so how do you combat this? Well, there’s basically two options from the AOC, right?

Option 1: Straight 400G to 400G AOC connections

One, which we see really heavy in cloud environments, is straight AOC 400G to 400G connections.

Option 2: 400G to 100G breakout connections

When we look at our second option, this is something that really is coming out in the telecom space, because as we know, when we compare cloud versus telecom, the telecom guys, they like to upgrade slowly, right? They want to keep downtime as a minimum and upgrade piece by piece. A 400G to 100G breakout is really the option that you want to go here.

Conclusion

Here at Vitex, we’ve got you covered on both areas. We have options for straight cable AOCs and we have options for breakouts. If you’re in the cloud or the telecom space and you want to talk to us here at our New Jersey office to see what kinds of solutions we can best provide for you, make sure you reach out to us and we’ll be happy to help you with any solutions that you need. Until next time, I’ll see you then.