OCP Optical Circuit Switching Subproject Update#

Speakers: Brian O'Connor (Google), Richard Yu (Google)

• Why: Google's OCS deployment reshaped the fabric-topology conversation (static Clos vs. reconfigurable); this new OCP subproject is about standardizing and open-sourcing the OCS control stack — a direction signal for physical DC topology design.
• What: Status of the OCS subproject (formed June) within the OCP Networking project: developing open software standards and a fully open software stack for optical circuit switching, targeting high bandwidth, low latency, and energy efficiency for AI/ML and HPC. (from abstract only)
• How: Standardization plus an open-source software stack so that OCS from multiple manufacturers can interoperate and be orchestrated — the abstract is a project-status announcement, so expect scope and roadmap rather than deep technical results.
• Where applicable: Aimed at general data center and AI/ML networking, not Google-specific; this is early-stage standards work, useful mainly as a where-is-this-heading read.