Multi-mode fiber has been the workhorse for fiber optic communication within a data center for years, as well as the choice for Ethernet backbones in office buildings. It has a rich history that goes all the way back to the first optical fiber standards when 100 megabits per second was a huge data rate. Anybody remember those days?

In Episode 56, we continue our conversation with Hao Dong, market technology development manager for Corning’s optical communications business. We get into the various multi-mode fiber standards, transceiver wavelengths, and future transceivers for multi-mode fiber.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager

Hao Dong is a market technology development manager for Corning’s optical communications business. Within this role, he focuses on technology and market trends to identify, evaluate, and develop leading optical network solutions that form the backbone of today’s connected world.

Hao has over 18 years of industry experience and has held various positions in engineering, development, and marketing within the fields of optical components, fiber lasers, and optical communications.

Hao holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from Wuhan University and a Ph.D in physics from the University of Connecticut. 

One quick note: You'll hear Hao mention the need for a 100m reach fiber. Since we recorded this, Corning has released such a fiber. It's their ClearCurve OM4 XT multimode fiber.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 56. The smartest data center operators use multi-mode fiber - do you? (5/7)

Multi-mode fiber has been the workhorse for fiber optic communication within a data center for years, as well as the choice for Ethernet backbones in office buildings. It has a rich history that goes all the way back to the first optical fiber standards when 100 megabits per second was a huge data rate. Anybody remember those days?

In Episode 57, we continue our conversation with Hao Dong, market technology development manager for Corning’s optical communications business. We get into the reach of future high speed standards for multi-mode fiber.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager

Hao Dong is a market technology development manager for Corning’s optical communications business. Within this role, he focuses on technology and market trends to identify, evaluate, and develop leading optical network solutions that form the backbone of today’s connected world.

Hao has over 18 years of industry experience and has held various positions in engineering, development, and marketing within the fields of optical components, fiber lasers, and optical communications.

Hao holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from Wuhan University and a Ph.D in physics from the University of Connecticut. 

One quick note: You'll hear Hao mention a 100m reach fiber that they're working on. Since we recorded this, Corning has launched that fiber. It's their ClearCurve OM3 XT and OM4 XT multimode fiber. 

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 57. The smartest data center operators use multi-mode fiber - do you? (6/7)

Multi-mode fiber has been the workhorse for fiber optic communication within a data center for years, as well as the choice for Ethernet backbones in office buildings. It has a rich history that goes all the way back to the first optical fiber standards when 100 megabits per second was a huge data rate. Anybody remember those days?

In Episode 58, we conclude our conversation with Hao Dong, market technology development manager for Corning’s optical communications business. We continue with the reach of high speed standards for multi-mode fiber and the impact on data center deployments and then close with chromatic and modal dispersion.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager

Hao Dong is a market technology development manager for Corning’s optical communications business. Within this role, he focuses on technology and market trends to identify, evaluate, and develop leading optical network solutions that form the backbone of today’s connected world.

Hao has over 18 years of industry experience and has held various positions in engineering, development, and marketing within the fields of optical components, fiber lasers, and optical communications.

Hao holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from Wuhan University and a Ph.D in physics from the University of Connecticut. 

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 58. The smartest data center operators use multi-mode fiber - do you? (7/7)

In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Brad Hine talks with Jeremy Huhman, Senior Director of Operations at Vyve Broadband, live from SCTE’s Tech Expo 2024. Jeremy shares insights from his session on HFC-to-fiber transitions, discussing the strategic and economic challenges broadband providers face in upgrading legacy networks. With over 15 years in the industry, he reflects on his journey from the Army to telecom, emphasizing the role of training, certification, and a career-focused workforce. The conversation also explores how evolving consumer demands and new technologies are shaping the broadband landscape, offering listeners a snapshot of broadband's future.

Vyve Broadband’s Path from HFC to Fiber with Jeremy Huhman

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 59, we begin a new conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We begin with his start in Cisco and the history of data center hardware architectures.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 59. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (1/5)

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 60, we continue our conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We get into data center hardware architectures and traffic patterns for AI applications.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.


Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 60. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (2/5)

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 61, we continue our conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We go into more detail about AI datacenter hardware architectures and Ethernet.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.


Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 61. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (3/5)

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 62, we continue our conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We get into smart NICs and future growth affecting optics.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 62. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (4/5)

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 63, we conclude our conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We continue with the constraints to consider when designing AI cluster racks and optics choices for them.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 63. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (5/5)

In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Brad Hine interviews Juan Pinzon, a project manager at Aspire Communications, from Fiber Connect 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Juan shares insights into the evolution of Aspire Communications from a small startup into a broadband service provider. With a focus on fiber optic network design and construction, Aspire has grown significantly, particularly in Florida and California. Juan discusses his role at Aspire, which involves everything from splicing to sales, and how the company has expanded into offering ISP services. He highlights key projects, including their work in Leesburg, Florida, and the impressive leap into California's Simi Valley, where they’ve built underground fiber networks.

Throughout the conversation, Juan reflects on the challenges and rewards of working in fiber optics, including the importance of building strong teams, finding the right partners, and evolving as a company. He also shares the company’s vision for bridging the digital divide, with a focus on residential and small government projects.

Episode 458: Juan Pinzon Talks About Fiber Network Projects and Aspire Communications' Growth

The Cisco Podcast Network is a collective of podcasts from across Cisco spanning technology to culture and everything in between. Hear from Cisco customers, partners, and Cisco insiders on the topics that matter most to you. Email us with your feedback and suggestions. Discover your favorite playlists today!

Welcome to the Broadband Bunch, a podcast about broadband and how it impacts all of us.  Join us to learn about the state of the industry and the latest innovations and trends. Connect with the thought leaders, pioneers and policymakers helping to shape your future through broadband.

The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by:
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New tracks tagged #FiberOptics