Driven by the latest demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and its technology ecosystem, in particular as AI-driven datacentre growth soars, network infrastructure is constantly having to adapt to a multitude of external pressures and unprecedented strains, even on current global optical architectures. This means, according to a research note from Omdia, to drive the continued growth of the global AI economy, optical networks will need to evolve significantly to deliver enhanced capabilities.
The research findings were at the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (IOWN) Global Forum meeting in Stockholm to highlight the work of its members to deliver what they say will be the necessary networks of the future as more consumers, enterprises and governments adopt and use more AI applications.
Driven by global tech giant and comms operator NTT, the IOWN project was created to meet the growing needs of the hyper-connected business world of the future, offering a future global communications infrastructure capable of enabling ultra-high-speed, high-capacity internet services utilising photonics-based technologies, namely an all-photonics network (APN).
In its mission, NTT is being supported by the likes of Ericsson, Nokia, Sony, Ciena, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, Orange, Telefónica and Google.
It aims to address the almost exponentially rising demand for data and a commensurate rise in energy consumption due to the vast amounts of compute power required by future applications, in particular AI and large language model (LLM) use cases. This network and information processing infrastructure includes terminals that can provide high-speed, high-capacity communication using technology focused on optics, as well as large computational resources.
As the meeting kicked off, Hakan Jevrell, Sweden’s state secretary to the minister for international development and foreign trade, told delegates that as the next generation of digitisation takes shape, businesses are having to deal with increasing organisational challenges, as well as uncertainties from the recent US tariff announcements and other geopolitical crises, and this has made even more important the need to develop systems and services that are ready to allow business to take on the future and remain relevant.
Such challenges were reflected in the Omdia research, The all-photonics network enables the next-gen digital economy, which projected that when measured in gigawatts, the total global datacentre capacity – what the analyst called the key enabling infrastructure for AI capabilities – is set to grow 57% from 2024 to 2027.
This, said Omdia, placed a number of future needs for network infrastructure such as even greater bandwidth to address surging capacity needs within tight capex targets; lower latency to meet advanced application and service requirements across diverse sectors; lower power consumption per bit to meet sustainability goals and reduce energy costs; cloud-like agility to match bandwidth supply to service utilisation; and greater network robustness and security to ensure resilience against natural and man-made disruption.
The analyst added that to achieve these aims, the next generation of optical network will have to keep pace with new fibre buildouts to new AI datacentre sites, with extended network capillarity (using short-range radio-access technologies to provide local connectivity to things and devices) and greater overall capacity. Omdia sees the IOWN APN as playing a crucial role in meeting these challenges.
The analyst said APNs bring benefits to all audiences – from individuals and industry to international markets – and noted that the APN will build upon advances in optics technology that offer improved system reach capabilities, cost optimisation, enhanced optical switching, and advances in multi-layer and supplier management supported by the standards community. For enterprises in particular, it sees benefits for those firms looking for greater security, agility and return on investment for their AI and cloud adoption.
“Consumers, businesses and governments all have a stake in the progress of the All-Photonics Network, which will support their use cases across many different sectors,” said Ian Redpath, Omdia’s research director for transport networks and components. “The All-Photonics Network will grow and evolve to support more bandwidth, extend to yet more edges, and be more responsive with minimal latency. Through an open APN, more stakeholders can take advantage of innovation from diverse service providers for better experiences and solutions.”
Katsuhiko Kawazoe, president and chair of the IOWN Global Forum, welcomed the findings of the Omdia report. “The aim of the IOWN Global Forum is to realise a world of well-being in a new digital economy in which everyone can live smarter and prosper,” he said. “Next-generation information and communications infrastructure will help enable this through speed-of-light technologies that will deliver a more sustainable and secure future for all.”
