New IOWN Global Forum Report Outlines Future of Digital Economy, Powered by All-Photonics Networks

Research from Omdia reveals how next-generation communications infrastructure is key to a safer, smarter and more sustainable world

The Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (the IOWN Global Forum) today revealed the findings of a new whitepaper, ‘The All-Photonics Network Enables the Next-Gen Digital Economy’, developed by the global analyst and advisory leader Omdia. The report was launched during the FUTURES Stockholm event, held by the IOWN Global Forum in Sweden’s capital to highlight the work of its Members to deliver the networks of the future.

The whitepaper first outlines how the existing global optical network infrastructure is constantly having to adapt to a multitude of external pressures, with the latest demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and its technology ecosystem. AI-driven data center growth is expected to soar across the globe as more consumers, enterprises and governments adopt and utilize more AI applications. Omdia is projecting the total global data center capacity, the key enabling infrastructure for AI capabilities, measured in total power load in gigawatts, to grow 57% from 2024 to 2027.

Future needs for network infrastructure

To drive the continued growth and evolution of the global AI economy, optical networks will need to evolve significantly to deliver enhanced capabilities including the following:

• Even greater bandwidth: to address surging capacity needs within tight capex targets
• Lower latency: to meet advanced application and service requirements across diverse sectors
• Lower power consumption per bit: to meet sustainability goals and reduce energy costs
• Cloud-like agility: to match bandwidth supply to service utilization
• Greater network robustness and security: to ensure resilience against natural and man-made disruption

To achieve this, the optical network will have to keep pace with new fiber buildouts to new AI data center sites, with extended network capillarity (using short-range radio-access technologies to provide local connectivity to things and devices) and greater overall capacity.

The new network opportunity

To address these challenges, the All-Photonics Network (APN) is the next generation of the optical network, conceived by the IOWN Global Forum, and is an open environment where more industry players can participate directly in the photonic layer of the network, scaled up and scaled out.

The APN will build upon advances in optics technology that offers improved system reach capabilities, cost optimization, enhanced optical switching, and advances in multi-layer/vendor management supported by the standards community.

What this means for everyone

APNs will bring benefits to all audiences - from individuals and industry to international markets. For consumers, the benefits will mean improved performance for their recreation, education, information and vocation pursuits. For enterprises, looking for greater security, agility and return on investment for their AI and cloud adoption. And for governments, with their priorities of providing security, defense and healthcare for their citizens, and their goals of maintaining their sovereignty, national competitiveness and budgetary affairs.

“Consumers, businesses and governments all have a stake in the progress of the All-Photonics Network, which will support their use cases across many different sectors,” said Ian Redpath, Omdia’s Research Director, Transport Networks and Components. “The All-Photonics Network will grow and evolve to support more bandwidth, extend to yet more edges, and be more responsive with minimal latency. Through an open APN, more stakeholders can take advantage of innovation from diverse service providers for better experiences and solutions.”

Dr. Katsuhiko Kawazoe, President and Chairperson of the IOWN Global Forum, commented: “We welcome the findings of this new report from Omdia, which highlights technological challenges and opportunities in the face of economic, geopolitical and climate crises. The aim of the IOWN Global Forum is to realise a world of well-being in a new digital economy in which everyone can live smarter and prosper. Next-generation information and communications infrastructure will help enable this through speed-of-light technologies that will deliver a more sustainable and secure future for all.”

About the IOWN Global Forum

The IOWN Global Forum was established in 2020 as a private sector organization to develop IOWN Global Forum technologies and use cases, and is comprised of over 150 organizations. The objective of the IOWN Global Forum is to accelerate innovation and adoption of a new communication infrastructure to meet our future data and computing requirements through the development of new technologies, frameworks, specifications, and reference designs in areas such as photonics R&D, distributed computing, use cases, and best practices. For more information, visit IOWN Global Forum – Innovative Optical and Wireless Network.

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