AttoTude, a pioneering startup founded by Dave Welch, is set to transform data transmission in data centers through innovative terahertz technology. Through Welch’s remarkable academic work in photonics, he had achieved the same breakthrough. The initiative is intended to increase the cost-efficiency of the nation’s data centers, which today reportedly invest roughly 10 percent of their compute budget on photonics. AttoTude’s system combines a digital component, a terahertz-frequency generator, and a mixer to encode data onto terahertz signals, providing a robust solution for high-speed data transmission.
Last April, AttoTude demonstrated its technology at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference in San Francisco, achieving a remarkable 4-meter transmission at a frequency of 970 GHz. The company’s waveguide technology is scheduled to expand its range to 20 meters. This innovation will double the carrying capacity of data in today’s modern datacenters.
The Technology Behind AttoTude
AttoTude’s new and patented approach uses terahertz-frequency signals to dramatically increase the speed of data transfers. The company’s system comprises three key components: a digital data chip that interfaces with the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a terahertz-frequency generator that produces the signals, and a mixer that encodes the data onto these signals. These unique factors give AttoTude the ability to produce a bandwidth above 224 Gb/s transmission.
Welch acknowledged the need to optimize photonics technology for reliability. “Customers love fiber. What they hate is the photonics,” he stated, emphasizing the challenges posed by traditional photonic systems. Over the past few decades, photonics has been criticized for its long-term reliability. AttoTude is addressing this problem by using cutting-edge engineering to defy gravity.
Along with its digital parts, AttoTude has created multiple generations of waveguides engineered uniquely for terahertz frequencies. These high-performance waveguides maintain MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signal integrity even over long haul distances. Taken together, they dramatically improve the results of data center interconnects.
A Competitive Landscape
AttoTude is by no means the only one chasing such advanced interconnect technologies. It works in parallel with Point2 Technology, another startup that’s looking to shake up data transmission with advanced communication technologies. Point2 has developed an e-Tube cable capable of carrying an impressive 1.6 terabits per second over distances up to 20 meters. The e-Tube comes in a more compact form factor with a larger capacity. This is making it an attractive option for data centers looking to improve transmission efficiency.
Both AttoTude and Point2 Technology face serious competition from much larger, more established players like Nvidia and Broadcom. These companies have spent years and many millions of dollars engineering co-packaged optics systems that deliver the high reliability optics. Welch can’t help pointing out that at a fundamental level, electronics are more reliable than optics. “Electronics have been demonstrated to be inherently more reliable than optics,” he pointed out, suggesting that AttoTude’s focus on terahertz technology could give it a competitive edge.
Welch’s vision for AttoTude is grounded in his aspirations to push the boundaries of conventional optical wavelengths. “If I didn’t have to be at [an optical wavelength], where should I be?” he questioned, highlighting the potential for terahertz frequencies to redefine industry standards.
Overcoming Challenges
Although such promising advancements have been made in terahertz technology, challenges still exist in this photonics frontier. One of these major hurdles is to realize the micrometer-precision manufacturing required to effectively control light on the photonic chips. This degree of precision is key to ensuring reliability and performance of these burgeoning optical systems.
Welch and his team are continuing to iterate AttoTude’s technology. They are deeply committed to finding solutions to manufacturing challenges and bringing innovative solutions to life that meet the demands of data centers continues to escalate. AttoTude is all about speed and reliability. While still a nascent technology, it seeks to provide an alternative that one day might supplant conventional fiber optics in high-performance applications.
As an industry expert, Don Barnetson explained, once you start transmitting data, you really have to try to get it right at the beginning. “You start with passive copper, and you do everything you can to run in passive copper as long as you can,” he advised, underscoring the need for dependable infrastructure in data center operations.