SKB Participates in Europe's Largest Optical Communication Expo... Showcases AI Traffic Processing Technology

SKB·SKT and Small Giants Form Consortium for Technology Development
Traffic Efficiency Management... Four Times Faster Than Existing Technology

SK Broadband announced on the 24th that it will participate in 'ECOC2024,' Europe's largest optical communication exhibition held in Frankfurt, Germany, until the 25th (local time). The company will showcase optical communication components and equipment capable of handling the rapidly increasing data traffic driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies.

An SK Broadband representative is explaining optical communication equipment to visitors at the 'ECO2024' expo. Photo by SK Broadband

Since May, SK Broadband has formed a consortium with SK Telecom and domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as HFR, Dionet, Oisolution, and Opticoa to carry out the 'Optical Communication Component Demonstration Support Project for Intelligent Information Networks,' led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency. At the exhibition, they will introduce the development achievements made so far. Based on demonstration data and technical references accumulated with the SMEs, they plan to promote the global expansion of the relevant components and equipment.

The new technology being introduced this time is a domestically produced optical module equipped with a 400Gbps optical transceiver for AI data center backbone equipment, designed to efficiently manage traffic in the DCI (Data Center Interconnect) segment. This is four times faster than the 100Gbps commonly used in existing data centers and does not require separate transmission equipment.

DCI is a technology that connects two or more data centers, supporting efficient distributed processing of AI model training and inference tasks across multiple data centers. For AI data centers, which need to transmit and process large-scale data quickly, the 400Gbps optical transceiver, characterized by long-distance and high-capacity transmission in this segment, is essential.

Additionally, they will introduce a single-wavelength optical transceiver (data transmission and reception terminal) capable of transmitting at 100Gbps speed using one optical fiber and wavelength. While existing 100Gbps transceivers used four wavelengths, the single-wavelength technology uses only one wavelength, simplifying the structure and increasing efficiency and data transmission distance. Using only one optical fiber makes maintenance and recovery easier.

SK Broadband stated, "The domestication of optical transceivers, which had a high dependence on imports, is significant, and the reduction of transmission equipment leads to a decrease in data center rack space and consequent energy savings, providing substantial environmental benefits."

At the exhibition, network equipment prepared for the introduction of AI digital textbooks will also be showcased. They will display a 10Gbps PoE switch that guarantees stable internet quality even amid the massive traffic generated during classes using electronic devices such as tablets and laptops in schools. This is ten times faster than existing equipment. PoE (Power over Ethernet) is a device that simultaneously transmits internet signals and electricity through a single Ethernet cable.

Choi Seung-won, head of ICT infrastructure at SK Broadband, said, "With this new technology, we have dramatically improved the transmission speed of large-capacity data between AI data centers and established a foundation to reliably provide high-capacity, high-quality services. Moving forward, we will continue to lead in technology development efforts and work in harmony with SMEs to foster a virtuous industrial ecosystem."