Network vendor Nokia has today unveiled its latest range of optical network products aimed at supporting the demands of AI applications.

The vendor made the announcement ahead of the Optical Fiber Conference (OFC) in Los Angeles, California, this week.

Nokia noted the need to bolster its optical offering amid rising AI traffic and data center interconnect requirements.

According to the company, its latest products have been designed and developed to deliver application-optimized connectivity that "maximizes performance while significantly reducing cost, space, and power and simplifying network operations."

It comes after the vendor mapped out its AI RAN network strategy at Mobile World Congress earlier this month.

More pluggables

Nokia's latest offering includes a 1.6T-capable coherent pluggable, which it notes is optimized for IP over DWDM DCI and scale across applications. The vendor has also announced a 2.4T-capable coherent pluggable that is optimized for thin transponder deployments supporting a broad range of terrestrial and subsea network applications.

Other products include a 3.2T-capable coherent lite solution, an updated range of double-sided pluggables, which are optimized to pair with CPO-, LPO-, and NPO-based switches, supporting campus, metro, and regional DCI and scale across applications.

An updated range of full-band transponders, which combine hundreds of coherent components into a single, operationally simplified solution for hyperscale capacity demands across campus, metro, regional, long-haul, and submarine applications, has also been unveiled, plus 2.4T and 3.2T embedded transponders aimed to maximize fiber capacity at any distance for fiber-constrained applications.

Nokia noted that it expects to begin sampling the products in mid-2027, with general availability to begin in the second half of next year.

"The industry is at a critical inflection point, requiring a whole new dimension of scale, trust, and innovation," said David Heard, president of network infrastructure at Nokia.

"The result is trusted solutions that drive the best economics, lowest power, and AI-enabled efficiency to advance connectivity for the AI era.

Nokia states that its latest optical offering is a fresh approach to building coherent optical solutions for AI-era networks.

The company explains that it is introducing a building block-based development methodology that enables technologies to be easily assembled and integrated across a broad range of optical transport use cases. This includes four new digital signal processors and multiple optical front ends built using both Indium Phosphide and Silicon Photonics.

The vendor claims that this drive improved cost, space, and power efficiency while delivering up to 70 percent total cost of ownership savings.

Nokia also announced a new multi-rail in-line amplifier designed for scalable multi-fiber deployments, as part of plans to meet bandwidth demands.

The company claims this can provide a 40-fold increase in in-line amplifier density over today’s solutions or 160 fiber pairs in a single rack, which it notes will expand capacity and reduce cost and operational complexity.

Nokia said its multi-rail optical line system will be available in the second half of this year.

Nokia unveils Aurelis for Data Centers

In a separate announcement, Nokia expanded its Out-of-band management (OOBM) portfolio.

As part of this expansion, the vendor launched Aurelis for Data Centers, which the company describes as a purpose-built, PON-based fiber offering that simplifies OOBM functions for AI and cloud providers.

OOBM is a method for remotely monitoring and controlling IT infrastructure, such as servers, routers, and switches.

Nokia explains that the solution is able to reduce the number of active switches by 90 percent, which it notes can improve space efficiency, deliver 50 percent or more power savings, and simplify operational effort by 80 percent.

The vendor points out that its latest OOBM is different from traditional OOBM architecture, which depends on dedicated per-rack switches, and increases power and cooling demands.

Aurelis uses PON technology to provide a centralized fiber-based architecture and is able to manage thousands of endpoints from a single platform, while reducing the number of switches and power required.

"With AI demand seeing no signs of slowing down, data centers are looking to PON technology to help save on costs and space. PON is designed for efficiency and reliability, making it the perfect technology for out-of-band management in data centers," said Geert Heyninck, general manager, broadband networks, Nokia.

Heyninck adds that Aurelis is already deployed in more than 700 mission-critical enterprise networks.