Inside TEF 2025: How Ethernet Is Responding to AI’s Rapid Scale, Part 2
AI is faster than infrastructure can adapt. At the Ethernet Alliance’s Technology Exploration Forum (TEF 2025): Ethernet for AI, the industry united to examine the current challenges and opportunities of supporting AI at scale.
The perspectives shared here reflect TEF 2025 speakers’ views on the critical decisions that will enable tomorrow’s resilient, scalable, and future-ready AI ecosystem.
Ethernet Always Wins
Physics is hard. But seriously, the technology required to address 400G/lane with acceptable cost, performance, and power is going to be really difficult. When you remember that 1000BASE-T was standardized in 1999, Ethernet’s record of achievement in this century is nothing short of stellar. We have progressed from 1Gb/s to the cusp of 1.6T/s at 200G/lane in 25 years…and much of that change has taken place in just the last decade. I feel like the move to 25G/lane with 802.3by-2016 kicked off an avalanche of innovation – 200/400Gb/s in 2017, 50G/lane in 2018, and 100G/lane in 2021. Now we’re looking at 200/400/800/1.6Tb/s using 200G/lane coming in 2026. The problems we need to solve are hard but not insurmountable. This is a team sport, and you should never bet against Ethernet. – Peter Jones, Distinguished Engineer, Cisco; Chair, Ethernet Alliance
My key takeaway? 448G is not here yet, but it is COMING! – Hani Daou, Business Development Manager, MultiLane
I was impressed with the use of the fiber shuffler technology as a way to reduce network switch layers. I have been aware of the use of fiber shufflers in the network, but the presentation by Jose Castro from Panduit helped me understand how they can reduce network latency. – Tom Palkert, Chair, SNIA SFF Transceiver Group
Progress toward 400G/lane connectivity for AI has proceeded quickly over the past year. The rapid evolution of devices and interconnect technologies, combined with a strong desire for rapid industry convergence, creates a challenging landscape for architecture and standards decisions. Solutions should avoid locking out meaningful power or cost savings that emerging technologies may soon offer. The meeting sought to strike a balance between urgent alignment and openness to innovation. – Tony Chan Carusone, Chief Technology Officer, Alphawave
OIF appreciated the valuable opportunity to participate, present and co-sponsor the Ethernet Alliance’s TEF 2025. This timely forum brought together critical industry thought leaders to present, discuss and debate some key decisions that the industry faces as we contemplate 448Gbps implementations.
It also provided a great opportunity for OIF to announce and present the recent publication of our Next Generation CEI-448Gbps Framework. This first-to-industry 448Gbps white paper provides a comprehensive view of the industry needs and challenges related to 448Gbps applications and deployments, while establishing a common set of terms and descriptions to enable improved industry calibrations and problem solving to establish interoperable solutions.
OIF’s work developing interoperable specifications in the areas of coherent optics, energy efficient electrical and optical interfaces (EEI), Common Electrical IO (CEI), and Common Management Interface Systems (CMIS) is all focused on satisfying the hyperscale network operators, so being part of TEF 2025 was truly a critical event for OIF. – Nathan Tracy, President, OIF
400Gb/s signaling is the first speed that will start in the AI era of networking. AI networking will transform Ethernet switching into a $100B+ market, and in its totality, data center networking will become a $200B+ a year market during the 400Gb/s signaling era.
TEF 2025 showcased significant progress in increasing port speeds with advanced packaging, new approaches to systems design, and cooling. The ability of AI to scale depends on these networking innovations, and 400Gb/s signaling will be a key component from chip-to-chip through all links inside the data center.
We are looking forward to TEF 2026. – Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst, 650 Group
TEF 2025 kicked off renewed industry momentum toward 448Gb/s transmission, and since then we’ve seen inspiring progress – particularly in passive channel bandwidth. Using consistent simulation assumptions, we evaluated NPC, CPC, and PCB channels and found that both PAM4 and PAM6 can be supported with margin given today’s capabilities.
While PAM6 has often been assumed due to bandwidth concerns, recent improvements suggest that PAM4 remains an important option to keep in scope as designs continue to mature. – Xiang He, Distinguished Engineer, Huawei
The TEF 2025 event was a great opportunity to meet the right mix of industry players.It helped me better understand the needs, requirements, and challenges for next-generation networking, and to look at possible solutions from different points of view. The Q&A and panel sessions were particularly valuable, as they allowed open discussion and direct exchange with the speakers. Overall, the event was very useful for learning and sharing ideas about Ethernet for AI. – Hadrien Louchet, Product Planner, Keysight
The Voice of Ethernet: Convening the Industry at a Watershed Moment
TEF 2025 reinforced the Ethernet Alliance’s fundamental role as the Voice of Ethernet, uniting key industry stakeholders to tackle Ethernet’s most pressing challenges and opportunities. By bringing the ecosystem together at this pivotal juncture, TEF 2025 helped foster the alignment, dialogue, and collaboration needed to move Ethernet forward in the AI era.
Want to go deeper? Explore our on-demand TEF 2025 Video Showcase to hear directly from our speakers.
