Development Challenges and Next-Generation Opportunities for Linear Drive Pluggable Optics (LPO) and Linear Receive Optics (LRO)#

Speakers: Nan Ge (Meta Platforms), Amin Yekani (Meta)

• Why: LPO/LRO is the pragmatic alternative to CPO for cutting optics power — no DSP on the link — and this is a development-experience talk with lessons learned and feasibility studies, not a vendor roadmap deck.
• What: Meta's optical interconnect architecture around 200G/L transceivers for front-end and back-end AI networks, a comparison of photonics technologies at 200G/L, desired diagnostic features for large-scale training, and development experience with LPO and LRO including feasibility studies. (from abstract only)
• How: Removing (LPO) or halving (LRO) the DSP to reduce power and cost, then working through the consequences: technical challenges, system compatibility with switch ASICs, and diagnostics — which are notoriously weaker without a DSP to measure the link.
• Where applicable: Meta's 200G/L architecture, but LPO/LRO tradeoffs (power vs. diagnosability vs. reach) are general to any 800G/1.6T network. The "desired diagnostic features" list is useful input for anyone specifying optics requirements.