New PCIe 5.0-compatible broadband optical SSD

Author: Carly Weller

KIOXIA Corporation, AIO Core Co. and Kyocera Corporation have announced the development of a prototype PCIe 5.0-compatible broadband SSD with an optical interface (broadband optical SSD). The three companies will develop technologies for broadband optical SSDs to enhance their suitability for advanced applications that require high-speed transfer of large data, such as generative AI, and will also apply them to proof-of-concept (PoC) tests for future social implementation.

The new prototype achieved functional operation with the high-speed PCIe 5.0 interface, which is twice the bandwidth of the previous PCIe 4.0 generation, through the combination of AIO Core’s IOCore optical transceiver and Kyocera’s OPTINITY optoelectronic integration module technologies.

In next-generation green data centres, replacing the electrical wiring interface with optical and utilising broadband optical SSD technology can significantly increase the physical distance between the compute and storage devices, while maintaining energy efficiency and high signal quality. It also contributes to the flexibility and efficiency of data centre system design, where digital diversification and the evolution of generative AI require complex, high-volume and high-speed data processing.

This achievement is the result of the Japanese ‘Next Generation Green Data Center Technology Development’ project JPNP21029. It is subsidised by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), which is under the ‘Green Innovation Fund Project: Construction of Next Generation Digital Infrastructure’.

In this project, companies will develop next-generation technologies with the goal of achieving more than 40% energy savings compared to current data centres. As part of this project, KIOXIA is developing broadband optical SSDs, AIO Core is developing optoelectronic fusion devices and Kyocera is developing optoelectronic device packages.

Axel Stoermann, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President at KIOXIA Europe, comments, “As we enter a new era where AI and high-performance data centres form the foundation of societal advancement, it’s essential to address the challenge of power management to ensure our strides in technology align with global sustainability goals.

“This new prototype of a PCIe 5.0-compatible broadband SSD with an optical interface has the real potential to revolutionise data centres and to make them truly sustainable.”