On Continued Significance of Multimode Links in Data Centers

Multimode optical links have been a significant part of the data center connectivity for a long time. The properties of multimode links and the requirements of short-reach interconnects have been an excellent match for each other. But with the need for higher speed and new applications like machine learning, can multimode links remain relevant? The answer is a resounding yes, at least for the foreseeable future. The main reasons are improvements in device and link design, opportunities to leverage unused performance margin, and continued prevalence of short-reach applications.