News: Optoelectronics
16 March 2026
Pilot Photonics nanosecond tunable laser selected by Finchetto
Pilot Photonics of Dublin, Ireland — which provides tunable and multi-wavelength laser technology for high-speed optical communications — has announced a partnership for its nanosecond tunable lasers to be deployed in next-generation data-center switch devices by Finchetto, which is developing what it claims is the first fully optical passive network switch for energy-efficient AI. Finchetto’s fully optical and passive network switch is said to dramatically reduce data network power consumption and latency, with significantly improved network throughput — key features for future cloud and AI data-center scaling and efficiency.
Finchetto has developed the first fully optical passive network switch for data centers, hyperscalers, high-performance compute and telecoms. Designed from first principles to enable energy-efficient AI, its architecture is reckoned to reduce power consumption by up to 20x and latency by up to 40x compared to traditional network switches. Enabling super-low power, ultra-low-latency packet switching at the speed of light with massive throughput, Finchetto says that its network switch can accelerate AI efficiently and sustainably and reduce global data-center energy demands by up to 20%.
Picture: Pilot Photonics laser dies.
“The tunable laser is critical to switching at the packet level, and until now we haven’t been able to find a faster laser on the market,” comments Finchetto’s CEO & co-founder Mark Rushworth. “The implementation of Pilot’s technology is an important step towards delivering our fully optical and passive network switching.”
Finchetto has demonstrated its optical switching approach using Pilot’s lasers and is now designing it into its next generation of demonstrators. The Pilot and Finchetto development teams are working closely together to realise the full potential of the innovative new system.
“Our laser capabilities coupled with Finchetto’s exciting roadmap for fully optical passive network switching make for a great match,” reckons Pilot Photonics’ chief technology officer Frank Smyth.
Pilot Photonics is attending the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition (OFC 2026) in Los Angeles, CA, USA (17–19 March) to demonstrate its laser capabilities.
Pilot Photonics announces availability of nanosecond-switching narrow-linewidth widely tunable laser
