{
  "id": 5090906,
  "title": "Next-gen AI networks may hinge on the telephone switchboard's return",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/next-gen-ai-networks-may-hinge-on-the-telephone-switchboards-return",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-02T13:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/networks/2026/09/02/next-gen-ai-networks-may-hinge-on-the-telephone-switchboards-return/5293764"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Next-generation AI networks may hinge on a return to the telephone switchboard. Nvidia and other companies are developing dense networks, cramming hundreds or even thousands of accelerators into a single system. This requires advanced optics and technology reminiscent of the traditional telephone switchboard. Nvidia has invested heavily in optics technology, including $6 billion in Coherent, Lumentum, and Marvell, as well as $125 million in iPronics to develop second-generation optical circuit switching (OCS) technology.\n\nUnlike traditional packet switches, OCS appliances reconfigure the network by adjusting the connections using microscopic mirrors, piezoelectric actuators, LCDs, or other technologies, enabling changes in real-time. While OCS isn't commonly used in modern GPU deployments, it has been employed in AI clusters, such as Google's TPU clusters, which use optical circuit switching to change pod sizes and hot-swap failed accelerators.\n\nHowever, existing OCS appliances have limitations, including slow reconfiguration times (100 ms) and large sizes due to micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. iPronics aims to address these issues with a second-generation OCS that uses silicon photonics and no moving parts, achieving sub-millisecond reconfiguration times and higher port densities. This could enable mid-workload topology changes with minimal latency, making it suitable for large AI clusters, such as Nvidia's LPU racks, which require thousands of accelerators for processing.",
  "summary": "Photonics startups like iPronics are raking in hundreds of millions in funding to make optical circuit switches faster, denser, and cheaper",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Register Science",
        "title": "Next-gen AI networks may hinge on the telephone switchboard's return",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/next-gen-ai-networks-may-hinge-on-the-telephone-switchboards-return-5094852",
        "published": "2026-09-02T13:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}