
#127 Corning's Brian Rhoney on AI, optical connectivity and the DC
From CommsDay Live by Grahame Lynch
February 16, 2026 · 27 min · Episode 136
About this episode
Brian Rhoney discusses the importance of optical fibre and interconnects in scaling AI clusters and addressing data center challenges.
Brian Rhoney, Director of Data Center Market Development at Corning Optical, explains how optical fibre and new interconnects are critical to scaling AI clusters, shifting data center traffic, and solving the memory and bandwidth challenges posed by modern GPUs. The episode also covers supply and infrastructure constraints, power and water considerations, Australia’s competitive position and sovereign AI concerns, and emerging trends like lensed connectivity and replacing copper links with optical solutions.Interviewer: Grahame Lynch
People in this episode
Host: Grahame Lynch
Guest: Brian Rhoney
Topics covered
- AI
- optical connectivity
- data centers
- bandwidth challenges
- infrastructure constraints
- emerging trends
Keywords
- AI clusters
- optical fibre
- data center traffic
- memory challenges
- bandwidth
- lensed connectivity
- copper links
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Corning Optical
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