Keysight Technologies and Point2 Technology teamed up to test and validate multiterabit interconnects for scale-up connectivity.

The partnership sees Keysight’s high-speed digital test solutions used to validate Point2’s e-Tube radio frequency (RF)-based interconnect to ensure it meets performance and reliability requirements of hyperscale AI infrastructure.

Where traditional copper cabling’s performance becomes increasingly strained over distance, Point2 touts its e-Tube offering providing better reach for scale up while boosting performance. The RF interconnects are claimed to provide up to 10-times longer reach compared to copper, using three-times less power and providing 1,000-times lower latency when compared to standard optics.

Keysight’s testing solutions will include its M8050A High-Performance Bit Error Ratio Tester (BERT), which analyzes bit error ratios in high-speed digital communication interfaces.

“A strategic partnership with Keysight gives us access to world-class engineering tools and support, allowing us to accelerate our e-Tube product development cycles,” Point2 Technology CEO Sean Park explained. “The confidence that comes from validating our e-Tube platform using Keysight’s rigorous test equipment is invaluable as we engage with leading hyperscaler customers globally."

Data center and cluster operators are looking for ways to further boost the performance levels of their already intricate infrastructure stacks.

Methods have ranged from networking rethinks, like moving fewer, more sizable datasets in more sustained bursts across persistent endpoints; a shift to two-tier topologies; or hyperscalers building their own custom transport layers or transponders to get an edge over growing bottlenecks.

Copper has also found itself in the firing line, with operators wanting further reach from their connections, all while using less power – and that’s before the considerations that the material is projected to be supply constrained in a little over a decade.

Keysight said its testing tools enable firms like Point2 to commence research on interfaces ranging up to 3.2 Tb/s.

“AI scale-up architectures demand disruptive innovation in physical interconnects,” Joachim Peerlings, VP of network and data center solutions at Keysight, noted. “Keysight provides the industry’s trusted source of measurement truth, helping innovative partners like Point2 validate technologies quickly and confidently at multiterabit speeds to achieve their next breakthroughs.”