Oriole Networks says its new optical core switch can slash data‑centre network power consumption by 81%.
In a lab demo run in May 2026, the company swapped traditional electrical switches for its nanosecond‑scale photonic modules on a 10‑rack testbed built with AMD’s Aria server boards. Oriole measured a drop from 150 kW to 28 kW for the network segment, citing a 5‑nanosecond per‑hop latency and no need for active cooling on the switches themselves.
If the numbers hold up, operators could shave hundreds of kilowatts from a typical hyperscale pod, lowering both electricity bills and heat‑related cooling costs. The claim, however, comes solely from Oriole’s internal testing; no independent lab or customer data has been published yet.
Even if optimistic, the result is a reminder that optical networking is finally moving from niche interconnects toward the data‑centre core, where every watt matters.