Why is interconnect validation important for AI data centers?

AI data centers rely on tightly synchronized, high-bandwidth connections between GPUs, switches, and accelerators. Any weakness in the copper or optical interconnects, such as signal degradation, power instability, or thermal issues, can introduce latency, cause training stalls, or reduce overall job completion efficiency. Interconnect validation ensures that high-speed links perform reliably under the intense, sustained workloads generated by AI training and inference. Keysight Interconnect and Network Performance Test products simulate full-rate traffic up to 1.6 Tbps across 212 Gb/s electrical lanes, allowing engineers to validate interoperability, performance margin, and stress response in transceivers, AOCs, DACs, and mid-board optics before deployment in large-scale GPU clusters or AI fabric networks.

What makes AI-specific traffic modeling different from traditional traffic tests?

AI workloads produce highly synchronized, non-uniform traffic patterns that differ significantly from conventional enterprise or cloud workloads. These include bursty, high-fanout flows, collective operations, and microsecond-level latency sensitivity across east-west traffic in the data center fabric. Traditional traffic generators often use steady-state, synthetic packet streams that fail to expose real-world performance bottlenecks. INPT systems use AI-specific traffic modeling to accurately emulate communication behaviors between AI accelerators and GPUs, replicating job-level timing, burst size, and synchronization dynamics. This approach enables meaningful performance evaluation of interconnects under conditions that mirror actual AI training scenarios, helping uncover congestion points and optimize fabric-level routing and design.

How do you test performance at 800GE and 1.6T speeds?

Testing at 800GE and 1.6T speeds requires traffic generators capable of full line-rate transmission using PAM4 signaling across 112 Gb/s and 224 Gb/s electrical lanes. Keysight’s INPT solutions deliver high-density Ethernet traffic generation up to 1.6 Tbps per port, with configurable support for 1x1600GE, 2x800GE, 4x400GE, or 8x200GE configurations. These platforms emulate worst-case scenarios using real application layer protocols, enabling engineers to measure throughput, latency, and FEC tolerance under load. The system can stress test transceivers with up to 40W power draw per port, ensuring proper performance of next-generation optical interconnects under realistic thermal and electrical operating conditions.

What metrics are important for interconnect performance testing?

Interconnect performance must be measured across multiple layers to ensure robust operation in AI infrastructure. Critical metrics include link-level latency, FEC correction rates, packet loss, jitter, congestion response, and queue depth. Keysight INPT platforms provide fine-grained telemetry and real-time analytics that expose bottlenecks during high-intensity data transfers. Engineers can monitor device behavior under conditions such as buffer pressure, retransmission events, or asymmetric traffic loads. This visibility helps optimize silicon-level design, switch firmware, and topology decisions, ultimately improving network efficiency and stability during AI model training and inference at scale.

Interconnect and Network Performance Tester

Real-World Traffic Emulation for 800GE and 1.6T Networks

The Interconnect and Network Performance Tester 1600GE (INPT-1600GE) is a new 1.6 Terabit Ethernet (1.6T) and down speeds hardware test platform for traffic generation and analysis with PAM4 over 212 Gb/s electrical lanes.

INPT-800GE from the INPT product family provides 2-port and 4-port benchtop option for 800GE and down speeds hardware test platform for traffic generation and analysis with PAM4 over 56 Gb/s electrical lanes.

INPT provides functional, performance, and interoperability benchmarks over a broad range of communication chips, interconnects, and networking equipment.

INPT platforms, with the new Interconnect Test System software (ITS), delivers a holistic solution that organizes, stores, and uses data intelligently to automate interconnect validation in high-speed Ethernet networks and data centers.

The Keysight Interconnect Test System (ITS) software addresses all these challenges, making it easier to qualify and validate interconnect performance. ITS, an advanced, cohesive software solution is designed to validate AI infrastructure, network components, and data center interconnects from 100GE to 1600GE. The ITS software runs on both the 800GE and 1600GE INPT hardware platforms.

1.6T Traffic Generation

Test next-gen AI network components, interconnects, and cables at 800GE and 1600GE line rates, including FEC and bit error rate (BER) analysis.

Interconnect Performance

Delivers Keysight Layer 1 BERT with advanced physical-layer testing for PCS, FEC, and frame loss to ensure production-ready interconnects. Supports Layer 2/3 RFC benchmarking and protocol emulation for scale and performance. Uses CMIS for automated configuration, application detection, and optical signal monitoring.