VIAVI Introduces 1.6Tb/s Ethernet Testing For AI Workloads

Viavi Solutions Inc. announced a new testing module, the ONE-1600, to address testing and validation needs of the 1.6Tb/s ecosystem based on 224G SERDES.

The ONE-1600 is available initially in a two-port configuration, and incorporates 224G SERDES technology, according to a press release. Viavi’s early customers for the module include InnoLight and Lumentum.

“Emerging applications like AI, ML, high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum computing are driving bandwidth and scale at an accelerating rate, creating increasingly difficult challenges for manufacturers of chips, pluggables and network equipment,” the company said. “Architects and developers need modern, sophisticated instrumentation to test at these higher speeds while maintaining accuracy, deployment and testing efficiency, and overall cost effectiveness.”

Some analysts are increasing forecasts for 1.6Tb products. “Use of optical connectivity in AI clusters accelerated adoption of 1.6Tb transceivers and 224G SERDES,” said Dr. Vladimir Kozlov, CEO and Chief Analyst at LightCounting. “LightCounting increased forecast for these products to a million units in 2025, up from tens of thousands in 2024. We have never seen such a sharp ramp for new products. This will be a stress test for the whole supply chain.”

The ONE LabPro testing platform integrates physical layer insights with multi-port, multi-flow data and control plane Layer 2/3 Ethernet testing across a range of data rates. It supports up to 64 x 1.6Tb/s test ports using ONE-1600 modules or 128 x 800Gb/s test ports using HSE-800 modules, managed by a single controller.