AI Optical

About AI Optical 

The optical infrastructure connecting data centre facilities, campus fabrics and high-density compute nodes plays a key role in enabling data centres to handle AI and high-performance computing workloads. The AI Optical programme is designed to compensate the innovators that made these foundational technologies possible and provide licensing clarity to the data centre ecosystem.

The programme addresses three technologies:

400ZR: An optical interface specification designed for high-density, point-to-point data centre interconnect (DCI) networks. Operating at 400 Gbps using single-carrier coherent DWDM modulation, 400ZR enables direct router-to-router optical transmission over single spans up to 120 kilometres in small-form-factor pluggable transceiver modules. The 400ZR Implementation Agreement is published and maintained by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF).

800ZR: A high-capacity evolution of 400ZR that doubles aggregate bandwidth to 800 Gbps per wavelength. Optimised for next-generation hyperscale data centres and AI clusters, 800ZR supports high-density client interfaces and cost-effective coherent optical transmission over single-span and DWDM links. The 800ZR Implementation Agreement was released in October 2024 and is published and maintained by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF).

IEEE 802.3 (ck/cu/df/dj): IEEE 802.3 is the foundational standard defining the physical layer (PHY) for wired Ethernet networks, including high-speed optical fibre communications. Governed by the IEEE 802.3 Working Group, specifications under 802.3 (eg 802.3cu and 802.3dj) define the optical transceiver interfaces and optical links used inside data centres worldwide.

Together, these technologies serve the full spectrum of AI training and inference environments, high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure – essentially anywhere that compute-intensive workloads require fast, reliable and scalable optical interconnects.

Sisvel has the track record and expertise to create a successful pool

Sisvel is Europe’s largest and longest-established patent pool operator, with a track record of creating successful licensing programmes around networking technologies.

The company’s Wi-Fi 6 pool secured more than 40 licensees within a three-year period, including industry giants such as Acer, Cisco, HP, Huawei and Netgear. This success led to the January 2026 launch of Sisvel Wi-Fi Multimode, a successor pool covering both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7. Membership expanded to 10 patent owners and deals have been announced with licensees including Sony and HP Enterprise. These were breakthrough programmes in a technology area that has long been known for complex and opaque licensing.

The AI Optical programme represents a natural progression from wireless to wired networking technology for the Sisvel team, which has invested considerable resources in understanding the technical and business landscape.

The Sisvel Tech unit – which is unique in the industry – has conducted detailed analysis of the specifications, mapped required and optional features and identified relevant patent portfolios. Meanwhile, our business development team has engaged with stakeholders across the industry to understand the wired networking licensing environment.

This rigorous preparation will enable us to ensure that should we proceed to pool formation, the licence offer that we put together will be compelling to both licensors and licensees.