Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity Launch Cooperation on Open Optical Networking Research

Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity announced that they have launched a long-term cooperation to jointly advance research and development in the field of open and disaggregated optical networks. The collaboration combines an internationally funded research project with shared experimental infrastructures as well as coordinated engagement in innovation clusters and standardization bodies.

The objective of the partnership is to develop and validate new approaches for the planning, operation, and validation across heterogeneous, multi-vendor environments.

The rapid rise of generative AI and large‑scale data processing is driving a surge in optical traffic—especially between data centers—placing unprecedented demands on networks for flexibility, scalability, and automation. At the same time, growing multivendor deployments and the continued shift toward disaggregation are increasing architectural complexity, raising the bar for design, operations, and fault management.

The collaboration between Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity aims to address these challenges by advancing foundational technologies—such as digital twins that enable validation in environments closely modeled on real networks, and multivendor testbeds capable of evaluating diverse equipment configurations—to realize more open and highly automated next‑generation optical networks.

A central element of the cooperation is the joint research project SHINKA – Digital Twin Federation for Open and Disaggregated Optical Networks. The project is jointly carried out by Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

SHINKA focuses on the development of federated digital twins for open optical networks. These digital twins are intended to enable vendor-agnostic modeling, simulation, and analysis of complex optical transport infrastructures and to provide a foundation for AI-assisted control and automation concepts in heterogeneous, multi-vendor network environments.

“With SHINKA, we are addressing a key challenge of open optical networks: enabling consistent modeling and validation across heterogeneous, multi-vendor infrastructures. Federated digital twins provide an important foundation for automation, interoperability, and data-driven network operation,” says Dr. Behnam Shariati, Deputy Head of Digital Signal Processing Group at Fraunhofer HHI.

Fraunhofer HHI operates a large-scale AI-enabled, SDN-controlled multi-vendor networking testbed that reflects real-world optical transport network deployments. As part of the cooperation, this infrastructure has recently been extended with the latest generation of optical transponders from 1Finity, the advanced liquid-cooled T950 1.2Tb transponder.

The integration enables comprehensive interoperability, performance, and automation tests and forms the experimental basis for the research activities planned within SHINKA. The testbed serves as a neutral environment for pre-competitive research and the validation of open and disaggregated network architectures.

“By integrating our latest transponder technology into Fraunhofer HHI’s multi-vendor testbed, we are creating a powerful environment for joint experimentation and validation. This collaboration allows us to evaluate open optical network concepts under realistic conditions and to accelerate innovation,” says Hideki Matsui, Senior Vice President and Head of Photonics System Business Unit, 1Finity.

In addition, Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity are planning to interconnect their testbeds between Berlin and Düsseldorf. The interconnection will be realized using the research and development fiber infrastructure of Deutsche Telekom T-Labs, an associated partner in the project SHINKA, creating a geographically distributed research environment.

1Finity will contribute its Ultra Optical System portfolio, which includes a ROADM solution for both C-Band and L-Band spectra; transponders and muxponders ranging from 100G to 1.2Tb, including its advanced liquid-cooled T950 1.2Tb transponder; and the new P300 800G ZR/ZR+ coherent pluggable transceiver. Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity will also collaborate on advancing 1Finity’s Optical Tomography and Optical Sensing, a key enabler of Digital Twin technology.  This setup will enable cross-site experimentation and the investigation of multi-domain scenarios under field-like conditions, supporting the transferability of research results from laboratory environments to operational optical networks.

The cooperation is further embedded in the newly established Intelligent Green Optical Networks Initiative (IGNITE) innovation cluster, co-founded by Fraunhofer HHI together with 1Finity and additional partners. IGNITE provides a cooperative framework for research institutions, industry, and network operators to jointly develop, test, and evaluate open and disaggregated optical networking technologies.

“IGNITE enables us to unite industry and research to accelerate breakthroughs in intelligent, green, and open optical networks. Together with 1Finity, we are building an ecosystem that drives real‑world innovation and ensures that Europe plays a shaping role in next‑generation network technologies.,” says Dr. Johannes Fischer, Head of Digital Signal Processing Group at Fraunhofer HHI.

Building on their joint research and testbed activities, Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity aim to strengthen their contributions to international standardization bodies and industry initiatives. This includes the planned establishment of a Neutral Host Facility for Multi-Vendor Interoperability, particularly in the context of Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and IOWN Global Forum.

The neutral facility is intended to support the validation of open interfaces, identify interoperability gaps, and reduce integration efforts in open optical networking environments.

Through this cooperation, Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity are establishing a shared foundation for the research, experimental validation, and standardization of open optical network architectures. The close integration of research, test infrastructure, and industrial expertise is expected to contribute to interoperable, scalable, and highly automated optical networks for future communication infrastructures.

The research results of the SHINKA project were obtained from the commissioned research (No. J012368G09201) by National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan, and by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under the program “Digital Twins and Data Models for Fully Optical High-Speed Networks”.

Source: Fraunhofer HHI and 1Finity media announcement