The 2024 Ethernet Alliance TEF “Ethernet in the Age of AI” served as a catalyst to the exploration of 400 Gb/s electrical and optical signaling. The future of AI networks will be transformative for Ethernet, as it evolves to meet the demands of back-end scale-up and scale-out networks, while it continues addressing the front-end network requirements. It is clear after a year of industry workshops and meetings and the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group’s own assessment of Ethernet interconnect for AI, the future evolution of Ethernet will be driven by the combined investments and efforts of all stakeholders. And with the development 400 Gb/s signaling, the appearance of 3.2 Tb/s Ethernet on the horizon should be anticipated.
Join the Ethernet Alliance and industry stakeholders as the ongoing exploration of the future of Ethernet and its implementations continues. Increased bandwidth, faster signaling, power challenges, advanced packaging technologies, next generation test equipment and methodologies, new approaches to cooling, and the list goes on. The generation of AI networking based on 400 Gb/s signaling could be very different than what we know today.
