Silicon Photonics - Trends, Highlights and Challenges Overview

The Cisco Global Cloud Index estimates that total data center traffic (all traffic within or exiting a data center) will reach almost 20 zettabytes per year by 2021, up from 7 zettabytes in 2016. Data center traffic on a global scale will grow at a 25 percent CAGR, with cloud data center traffic growth rate at 27 percent CAGR or 3.3-fold growth from 2016 to 2021.

The growth in internet traffic not only accelerates the need for next-generation technology to support higher port density and faster speed transitions but is also accompanied by large physical data center sizes as well as faster connectivity between the data centers. As the data rates and distances to carry high speed data are increasing, the limitations of traditional copper cable and multimode fiber-based solutions are becoming apparent and the industry focus is shifting towards adoption of single-mode fiber-optic solutions.