Customized Energy-Saving Process for Transparent Optical Cables in Data Centers

Energy-efficient optical interconnects in data centers can reduce power consumption by up to 95% compared to traditional copper solutions through MicroLED-based co-packaged optics and low-power transceiver designs.

MicroLED-Powered Optical Interconnects

Microsoft's MOSAIC technology demonstrates a customized energy-saving approach by replacing conventional laser-based optical cables with MicroLED-powered interconnects, achieving up to 68% reduction in networking power consumption . Key features include:

• Directly Modulated MicroLEDs: Each MicroLED consumes only a few hundred microwatts, 100–1,000 times less than traditional lasers, and is inherently temperature-stable and dust-insensitive .
• Multicore Imaging Fiber: Thousands of parallel fiber cores within a single cable allow hundreds of low-speed channels to transmit data simultaneously, reducing the need for high-power, high-speed channels .
• Low-Power Analog Backend: Operating at 2 Gbps per channel with NRZ encoding eliminates power-hungry DSPs, ADC/DACs, and CDR circuits, further lowering energy use . This architecture is particularly suited for short-distance, high-density intra-rack connections, enabling energy-efficient AI and cloud computing workloads.

Co-Packaged Optics (CPO)

CPO integrates optical transceivers directly with switch or GPU chips, minimizing electrical-to-optical conversions and reducing copper-related inefficiencies . Benefits include:

• Lower Power Consumption: By keeping data in optical form closer to the chip, CPO reduces energy lost in copper interconnects and eliminates costly signal boosters .
• Improved Thermal Management: Less heat is generated inside servers, easing cooling requirements and improving overall data center PUE .
• High Integration Density: Advanced CPO designs, such as MicroLED CPOs, achieve energy consumption as low as 1–2 pJ/bit while supporting high throughput (up to 1.6 Tbps per module), .

Low-Power Optical Transceivers

Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO) and modern low-power transceivers offer substantial energy savings:

• Power Reduction: LPO modules cut per-port power by up to 50% compared to DSP-based optics, with typical 400G/800G modules consuming only 3–5W .
• Simplified Thermal Management: Eliminating onboard DSPs reduces heat output and module complexity .
• Optimized Form Factors: QSFP-DD and OSFP modules provide better watts-per-gigabit ratios, enabling higher port density without exceeding power budgets .

Implementation Strategies

To maximize energy efficiency in transparent optical cables:

1. Right-Size Transceivers: Use the lowest-power, shortest-reach modules suitable for the link distance to avoid over-provisioning .
2. Adopt MicroLED or LPO Technologies: Replace conventional lasers and DSP-heavy modules with MicroLED arrays or linear optics to reduce per-bit energy consumption .
3. Integrate Co-Packaged Optics: Position optical modules closer to chips to minimize electrical conversion losses and improve thermal performance .
4. Leverage Multicore or Imaging Fiber: Increase parallelism in fiber cores to maintain bandwidth while lowering per-channel power .

Conclusion

By combining MicroLED-based optical interconnects, co-packaged optics, and low-power transceivers, data centers can achieve dramatic reductions in energy consumption, improve thermal management, and support high-speed AI workloads efficiently. These customized processes are essential for sustainable, high-density, and future-proof data center operations.