Finisar Corporation [NASDAQ: FNSR]: Redefining Connectivity in HPC

As the amount of computing horsepower in technological markets is proliferating by the day, so is the need for processing performance, power optimization, and architectural innovations. The High-Performance Computing (HPC) ecosystem is no different. Meeting such needs in an HPC environment pivots on an integral aspect— connectivity. “Connectivity is an essential element that drives the HPC industry,” begins Steffen Koehler, Vice President of Marketing, Finisar Corporation—an optical connectivity company. Because the focus of much of the optics industry is shifting to cloud data centers, some organizations lack the understanding to draw a distinction between the connectivity needs of HPC and the cloud data center industry. “What does the HPC industry need that it’s not already getting from riding the coat-tails of the cloud data center industry?” asks Koehler.

According to him, the answer to this lies with Finisar. The leading optical transceiver company in the world, Finisar provides fiber optic interconnects for HPC using technologies that value HPC, rather than solely focusing on the data center industry. “The HPC industry has historically relied on 4-Channel active optical cables (AOC). However, this optics technology is not purchased in the data center industry in the same time frame or volume,” underscores Koehler. Having recognized this trend in the HPC ecosystem, the company has developed a wide range of AOC solutions —including Finisar’s Quadwire® product line that ranges in data rates from 40G to 400G—to accelerate storage, data, and HPC connectivity.

Besides reducing costs, Finisar also caters to the low latency and low power consumption needs of the HPC ecosystem. To do so, the company empowers its customers with multimode optics. “While large data centers are migrating toward single-mode optics, Finisar also remembers the needs of HPC. The availability of both single-and multimode optics allows end users to separately optimize high bandwidth connections for longer and shorter distances. And for those shorter distances utilized in HPC, Finisar’s multimode optics include a full suite of AOCs, along with pluggable transceivers and embedded optical engines. The uniqueness of the company is also evident in the fact that it invests heavily in co-packaged optics in the multimode, VCSEL-based regime, not just in single mode.