Episode 95: OFC 2026 Takeaways and Preparing Networks for AI

About this episode

The episode discusses takeaways from OFC 2026 and the role of optical technology in AI-driven networks.

Ciena's Rebecca Smith sits down with Brodie Gage and Dino DiPerna to reflect on OFC 2026 and how optical technology is taking center stage in the AI Era. They share perspectives shaped by decades in the industry and discuss what it takes to build, scale, and operate AI-driven networks—inside the data center and beyond. The podcast touches on some of the latest innovations in optical networking, including scale up, scale out, and scale across architectures; coherent and co-packaged optics; liquid cooling; and next-generation hollow‑core fiber. Together, they separate signal from noise, unpacking what's real, what's hype, and what's coming next for operators, hyperscalers, and service providers.

People in this episode

Guests: Brodie Gage, Dino DiPerna

Topics covered

• OFC 2026
• optical technology
• AI-driven networks
• data center
• optical networking
• coherent optics
• co-packaged optics
• liquid cooling
• hollow-core fiber

Keywords

• scale up
• scale out
• scale across
• hyperscalers
• service providers

Mentioned in this episode

Products: optical technology, coherent optics, co-packaged optics, liquid cooling, hollow-core fiber

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