Optical switching for data centers and advanced computing systems [Invited]

We explore optical switching to extend network programmability to the physical layer and discuss applications of a Layer-1 software-defined network (SDN) in AI/HPC clusters. In this context we identify two applications for optical circuit switches (OCSs): failure resilience and reconfigurable topologies for deep learning workloads. We present experimental results from a DGX-based testbed towards improving failure resilience and a simulation analysis for efficient deep learning training in AI clusters.