Coherent: Flexgrid® Octa C+L DGE

Traditional single-rail systems are constrained by wavelength and spectral efficiency limits, making them unsustainable to accommodate AI traffic surges. Ultra-rail optical architectures for data centers offer the required scalability but come with higher power consumption, larger footprints, and increased operational complexity. Coherent's Flexgrid® Octa C+L DGE addresses some of these challenges. Built on Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) technology, it integrates eight dynamic gain equalizers into a single compact module, delivering spectral equalization for four C+L band rails with the power draw of just two C-band DGEs. This breakthrough achieves an 8x improvement in power efficiency, dramatically reducing energy costs. Its compact design minimizes rack space and simplifies deployment, cutting both capital and operational expenses. Flexgrid® Octa C+L DGE supports any baud rate and data rate, including 400G, 800G, 1.2T, and 1.6T channels, as well as future coherent optical technology innovations. 

Judge’s comment: “Coherent's Flexgrid® Octa C+L DGE will help enable the development of complete multi-rail line system solutions for use in hyperscale DCI applications.”