Vienna – October 15, 2026 -- Huawei has unveiled its Next Generation OTN solution, offering 800G to 2T capacity for data center interconnection (DCI), as the core of a "LIGHTS" all-optical network aimed at AI data center (AIDC) traffic. The company presented the concept at the Optical Transport Innovation Summit during NetworkX 2026.
Huawei Identifies Three AI-Driven Revenue Waves for Operators
Huawei outlined three opportunities for operators: DC interconnection for hyperscalers, private lines for enterprise computing power, and integrated computing and network services. The company argues these shift optical transport from a network serving consumer and home users to one serving enterprises and AI, and move planning from administrative divisions to an AIDC-centric model.
LIGHTS Framework Sets Six Capability Targets
The LIGHTS target network comprises Low Latency, Intelligent Operation, Green Foundation, High Reliability, Tbps-level Capacity, and Security Assurance. Gavin Gu, president of Huawei's Optical Transmission Network Domain, presented the Next Generation OTN solution, which covers both DCI and data center access (DCA) scenarios.
DCI Offering Combines 2T Speeds With Pre-Deployed Capacity Pool
For DCI, the solution delivers 800G to 2T capacity and an OTN capacity pool that pre-deploys capacity in multiple directions using minimal resources. Huawei says this speeds time-to-market, maximizes fiber capacity, and meets Tbps-level bandwidth and rapid delivery needs.
DCA Package Adds OXC, WSON, fgOTN and Quantum Encryption
For DCA, Huawei offers:
- End-to-end OXC for a meshed, one-hop direct architecture
- Millisecond-level WSON for high availability
- fgOTN for flexible bandwidth from 10Mbps to 1Gbps
- An integrated QKD solution for quantum encryption
Huawei also states that hardware and software upgrades deliver an end-to-end "zero-outage network."
Operators Move From Bandwidth Sales to Multi-Dimensional Pricing
Huawei says computing-power private lines are expanding from a single bandwidth dimension to bandwidth, latency, reliability, and security. This allows operators to offer differentiated services by industry and improves pricing power. In Hubei, China, operators are combining network and computing resources to launch integrated services in education, healthcare, and finance.