San Diego, CA, March 21, 2024 – A group of industry-leading networking, semiconductor, and optics companies announce the formation of the LPO MSA (Linear Pluggable Optics Multi-Source Agreement) to develop the specifications for networking equipment and optical modules required to enable a broad ecosystem of interoperable LPO solutions. These specifications target the industry-wide challenge of reducing the power, cost, and latency, while improving the reliability of high-speed optical interconnects.

The LPO MSA founding members include Accelink, AMD, Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Eoptolink, Hisense, Innolight, Intel, MACOM, NVIDIA, and Semtech Corporation.

The initial target of the MSA is an optimized optical interconnect with LPO modules on both ends of the link.  The LPO MSA specifications will define the electrical and optical requirements to ensure interoperability between multiple vendors of networking equipment and optics modules.

“There is an urgent need to reduce the network power consumption for AI and other high-performance applications,” said Mark Nowell, LPO MSA Chair. “LPO materially reduces power consumption both for the module and the system while maintaining a pluggable interface, providing the economics and flexibility that customers need for high-volume deployments.”

“The LPO MSA will enable a multi-source ecosystem for LPO optics modules which is essential for wide industry adoption,” said Andreas Bechtolsheim, Co-Chair LPO MSA. “We look forward to supporting the LPO MSA specifications.”

Please visit https://www.lpo-msa.org/ for more information about the LPO MSA.

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