Expands Coherent Pluggable Portfolio with New Bright QSFP28 100ZR Module
After nearly two decades of delivering innovation and industry-first coherent technology to the optical networking industry, Acacia is proud to head to this year’s OFC as the market share leader in coherent technology, according to research analysts LightCounting and Cignal AI. This is driven by the success of its broad portfolio of both performance optimized and MSA pluggable coherent modules covering access, edge, DCI, metro, long haul, subsea, and low earth orbit satellite applications.
Acacia’s coherent port shipments show continued market share leadership:
- 100k Jannu DSP ports powering the CIM 8 performance optimized module
- 750k 400G ports based on the Greylock DSP
- 25k 800G ports based on the Delphi DSP
Analysts such as Cignal AI are already predicting that the ramp of 800G ZRx pluggables will surpass all earlier coherent generations driven by AI scale-across. Both coherent pluggable and performance optimized solutions are expected to play a role in supporting scale-across networking. However, 800G ZRx solutions are projected to be the workhorse, followed by 1.6T ZRx when they become available.
Scaling AI at the Speed of Light
Scale-across networks connecting geographically diverse AI clusters are becoming critical because they address the growing need to distribute AI workloads across multiple data centers that operate as a single entity. This new architecture is crucial to overcoming physical limitations, such as power availability and space constraints, that individual data center sites face today. This architectural shift and strategies for building a network that can scale transport bandwidth to meet future AI demands was discussed in this Lightwave article.
Acacia’s coherent modules are already being deployed in today’s AI build outs while the company’s expanded line of client optics components are delivering the higher-bandwidth, lower power and smaller footprint needed to meet the intra-data center optical interconnect demand.
Industry Leading Coherent Technology
Acacia, the coherent pluggable pioneer, has delivered the broadest field-proven portfolio of 400G coherent pluggables in speeds from 100G to 800G, and the first 800G ZR+ module with interop PCS.
Acacia also delivered the industry’s first single carrier 1.2T pluggable performance optimized module. As customer deployments have demonstrated, the CIM 8 pluggable module enables network operators to achieve the highest capacity and reach while maximizing transmission data rate across a wide range of multi-haul network applications.
Acacia continues to innovate and will illustrate its industry-leading optical networking advancements through the following OFC demonstrations and speaking sessions:
Acacia Demonstrates QSFP28 100ZR Module with High Transmit Power
Adding another form factor to its broad portfolio of pluggable coherent products, Acacia will be demonstrating during OFC a Bright QSFP28 100ZR module with 0 dBm high transmit power. Designed for existing QSFP28 slots with a <6 watt power envelope, it’s ideal for metro access, data center interconnect, wireless x-haul, and campus/enterprise interconnect applications enabling operators to migrate existing 10G links to 100G. It also enables reaches from 160km point-to-point up to 500km DWDM links and expands IP over DWDM applications to the growing 100G network segment.
The QSFP28 100ZR module enables network operators to migrate 10G links to 100G while also allowing for greater distances, using less power and equipment.
Highly Resilient, High-Bandwidth, Lower Power Kibo 1.6T PAM4 DSP Demonstration
Acacia will also be demonstrating the 3nm Kibo DSP at OFC. Sampling now and designed to enable 200G per lane PAM4 data transmission for 1.6T optical transceivers, Kibo delivers more reliable, high-bandwidth and 20% lower power compared to existing 1.6T module implementations. The Kibo PAM4 DSP in conjunction with Acacia’s Optical Engines can deliver a solution with the performance and power efficiency required for the most demanding AI workloads.
Acacia Participates in OIF and Ethernet Alliance Interoperability Demonstrations
OIF (Booth #2017) – Acacia is proud to once again participate in the OIF’s live, multi-vendor interoperability demonstration showcasing advances in energy efficiency, performance and capacity for AI-era data center networks. Featuring 40 member companies, this year’s event highlights how OIF-driven interoperable networking solutions enable scalable, energy-efficient networks for AI-era data center environments. Acacia’s products will participate in the 800G ZR/ZR+, 400G ZR/ZR+, 100ZR, and CMIS technology areas.
Ethernet Alliance (Booth #5023) – The interactive display illuminates how Ethernet continues to evolve to support AI workloads, hyperscale data center growth, and emerging network architectures operating at terabit speeds. Acacia is participating with 400G ZR+ and 800G ZR+ coherent interconnects.
Speaking Sessions:
Sunday, March 15
Workshop: Will Coherent Pluggables Take Over Everything
- Speaker: Timo Pfau, Principal Engineer
- Time/Location: 13:00 -15:30 pm, Room 408B
Monday, March 16
Optica Executive Forum: Scale Across Data Center Networks
- Moderator: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
- Time/Location: JW Marriott Los Angeles, 8:50-10:10 am
Invited Speaker: Next-Generation Coherent Optical Transmission Systems and Practical Optimizations
- Speaker: Wenting Yi, Optical Engineer
- Time/Location: 10:30 -11:00 am, Room 408A
- Speaker: John Jacob, Senior Product Manager
- Time/Location: 17:30 -18:00; Room 515A
Wednesday, March 18
NOS Panel: Realizing IP over DWDM: Benefits, Challenges and Customer Deployments
- Speaker: Anuj Malik, Director, Product Management & Strategy
- Time/Location: 10:45 – 12:15 pm, Expo Theatre I
Special Event: Advanced Packaging and Co-Packaging for Efficient Optical Systems
- Speaker: Ricardo Aroca, Distinguished Engineer
- Time/Location: 14:15 – 15:45, Expo Theater 1
Special Event: Architecting the AI Network Infrastructure at Scale
- Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
- Time/Location: 16:00 – 17:00; Expo Theater 1
Meet with us!
If you are attending OFC 2026 and would like to discuss any of these topics, contact us to request a meeting. For more information, visit our OFC page.
