Optalysys

Our CEO Chris Walker explores the photonic milestones that have transformed the compute conversation

GPUs have transformed artificial intelligence because they are exceptionally good at highly parallel computation, but the performance of an AI system depends on far more than the arithmetic capability of the processor: information must also travel between memory, accelerators, servers and racks. This means that as clusters expand, what happens between the processors is becoming as critical to performance as what happens on them. This is one reason optical technologies are being rapidly adopted throughout AI networking infrastructure - photonics provides the bandwidth necessary to move enormous quantities of information efficiently. At Optalysys we have asked ourselves whether optical infrastructure can contribute more than bandwidth alone. When data is already travelling as light, why wait for an inefficient conversion back to digital and pass through a separate processor before any useful operation can take place? eu1.hubs.ly/H0zxLQt0

"Across the ecosystem, architectures that don’t just deliver more compute, but rethink where that compute happens are gaining traction. Innovators and designers at the forefront of AI are now exploring whether we can turn the network itself into active compute infrastructure.  From the vantage point of memory, processing-in-memory is targeting decode heavy premium workloads to reduce data movement in pursuit of speed, energy and cost gains. While memory pooling, sharing and dynamic allocation make capacity more available. That capacity can follow workloads and be more effective in serving larger models and supporting longer contexts.  Disaggregated memory can improve utilization and enable larger models or contexts, but physically separating memory from the accelerator introduces a transport path with different latency and bandwidth characteristics from local HBM.  If memory can become part of compute, why not the data path?" - our CEO Chris Walker in his latest post over on our blog: eu1.hubs.ly/H0ztLQZ0

Conventionally, transport and compute are largely treated as separate functions: data is moved, received and reconstructed before the useful operation happens.  With photonic Compute-in-Transit, selected operations can become part of the movement event itself.  This doesn’t mean replacing conventional XPUs with photonics systems. While photonics is naturally suited to particular classes of linear mathematical operations, electronics remains ideal for general-purpose control, nonlinear processing and many other workloads GPUs perform exceptionally well.  What heterogenous architectures offer us is the opportunity to explore better division of labor.  Read out latest post from @NNOPT eu1.hubs.ly/H0zqKkB0

The future of AI infrastructure won’t be defined by a single processor, memory or computing technology. As power, memory and data movement constraints grow we’re seeing advances in combining XPUs, specialist accelerators, advanced memory, optical interconnects and emerging compute technologies into heterogenous architectures. Heterogeneity allows each component in the system to be used where it delivers the greatest system-level advantage. In this article for @techUK, Optalysys CPO and Co-Founder @NNOPT argues that this shift creates a significant opportunity for the UK to turn its strengths in photonics, semiconductor design and advanced computing into strategically vital positions within the global AI supply chain – but doing so will require collaboration across hyperscalers, hardware developers, networking companies, deep-tech innovators and government alongside faster commercialisation of the UK’s research strengths. Read the full article: eu1.hubs.ly/H0zgRcK0

We've touched down at the Optica + Advanced Photonics Coalition PECC Summit in Sunnyvale! We're looking forward to connecting with leading technical minds from across the photonics ecosystem 💡 If you'd like to experience a brand new live demo of our photonic Compute-in-Transit technology that delivers greater energy efficiency for AI, swing by our stand (T9). You can also pre-book your meeting here bookings.cloud.microsoft/boo…

Across the ecosystem, architectures that don’t just deliver more compute, but rethink where that compute happens are gaining traction. Innovators and designers at the forefront of AI are now exploring whether we can turn the network itself into active compute infrastructure.  In his latest article, our CEO Chris Walker asks "if memory can become part of compute, why not the data path?" eu1.hubs.ly/H0z8rck0 Heading to the PECC Summit and interested in finding out more? Book some time in with the team to be taken through a live demo of our photonic Compute-in-Transit technology ➡️ bookings.cloud.microsoft/boo…

Next week we'll be exhibiting at the @OpticaWorldwide & @AdvancePhotonic PECC Summit 🚀 Visit the team on Stand T9 to see and interact with a live demo of our photonic Compute-in-Transit technology and talk to us about: - Photonic compute within the data path for AI inference - Distributed AI and collective operations - How compute can be integrated into optical links - Opportunities to collaborate across chips, networking and optical infrastructure Book some time in with the team ➡️ bookings.cloud.microsoft/boo…

Our CPO Nick New recently spoke to @BW_SciTech about the Optalysys journey spanning Leeds, Bristol & the US 🚀 Our Leeds site is home to our optical lab and where our photonics engineers, mathematicians & cryptographers are based. Watch the full video ⬇️ youtu.be/y7ROPo4lqaA?si=B2t8…

Later this month we'll be heading to Sunnyvale for the Optica & Advanced Photonics Coalition's PECC Summit where we're Gold Sponsors 🚀 Visit the team on Stand T9 to see and interact with a live demo of our photonic Compute-in-Transit technology and talk to us about: - Photonic compute for AI inference - Distributed AI and collective operations - How compute can be integrated into optical links - Opportunities to collaborate across chips, networking and optical infrastructure Book some time in with the team ➡️ bookings.cloud.microsoft/boo…

📣 We're thrilled to announce the appointment of Chip Greely as our new VP & Head of Device Operations Based in the US, Chip has over 35 years of experience in semiconductors and has worked with the likes of Qualcomm, Textron and TRW. More recently he's worked in the electro-optical space at Ayar Labs, Nokia America, and n-Eye Systems managing in-house and OSAT assemblies and relationships of silicon photonics to support AI. Welcome aboard Chip!

Today marks an exciting milestone for Optalysys as our new Bangalore office officially opens its doors 🎉 🇮🇳 This new hub will play an important role in supporting the next phase of our technology and product development, strengthening our global engineering capability and helping us build a sustainable pipeline of world-class talent. We’re excited to welcome our Bangalore team and to see this new chapter take shape.

As AI hits memory, power and copper walls, new ways of computing matter more than ever. Our CEO Chris Walker explores recent photonics milestones that could pave the way ⬇️ Read the full article: eu1.hubs.ly/H0yJN__0

FEC is one of the hidden enablers of modern AI infrastructure - but as network speeds and scale increase, error correction so can costs in latency, power and silicon. Our latest report from Joe Wilson explores how FEC supports reliable scale-out AI networks, why its infrastructure cost is becoming increasingly important, and how new photonic Compute-in-Transit architectures could move selected elements of error correction into the optical data path itself. Download the report to explore the next frontier in AI network efficiency ⬇️ eu1.hubs.ly/H0yzzWT0

We're delighted to have been shortlisted in the @ProlificNorth Tech Awards 2026 🎉 We're finalists in the Tech Innovation of the Year category for our Compute-in-Transit technology - congratulations to all other nominees! Find out more about Compute-in-Transit ➡️ optalysys.com/what-we-do/