Keysight Technologies has introduced a new Ethernet workload emulation platform designed to help technology companies validate next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) networking infrastructure as the industry moves toward higher data-rate interconnects for large-scale AI clusters.
The company unveiled the AresONE 1600GE, a scalable 1.6-terabit Ethernet AI workload emulation platform intended to test AI fabrics operating over emerging 224-gigabit serializer/deserializer (SerDes) electrical lanes. The platform is aimed at network equipment manufacturers, semiconductor companies, hyperscale cloud providers, and AI data center operators seeking to validate high-speed networking architectures before and after deployment.
The launch comes as AI workloads continue to expand rapidly across data centers, driving demand for faster and more efficient networking infrastructure. Modern AI clusters rely on both scale-up and scale-out networking models to connect thousands of GPUs and accelerators. To support this scale, the industry is transitioning to higher-speed Ethernet technologies such as 800-gigabit and 1.6-terabit links, while also increasing switch radix—the number of ports available per switch—to improve network efficiency and reduce infrastructure layers within AI fabrics.
However, validating these next-generation designs introduces new technical challenges. Engineers must ensure link integrity across 224G electrical lanes, evaluate network behavior under microbursts of traffic, and replicate the complex collective communication patterns used by distributed AI workloads. Accurate testing of these factors is critical to maintaining reliable performance across large GPU clusters.
Keysight said the AresONE 1600GE platform addresses these challenges by combining high-density networking hardware with its Keysight AI Data Center Builder software. The platform allows engineers to emulate real-world AI workloads, including full-stack implementations of RoCEv2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet), which is widely used in AI data center networking.
By replicating production-like traffic patterns, the system enables teams to measure key performance indicators such as congestion control efficiency, load balancing behavior, and the impact of network conditions on AI job completion times. Integrated telemetry, data collection, and analytics capabilities also provide deeper visibility into network performance and potential bottlenecks.
The platform features a high-density OSFP 1600 hardware architecture with four OSFP 1600 ports capable of supporting multiple fan-out configurations, including 1×1600GE, 2×800GE, 4×400GE, and 8×200GE connections over 224G SerDes lanes. This flexibility allows engineers to perform link bring-up, interoperability testing, and large-scale traffic validation within a single system.
In addition, the platform supports full-stack validation across the networking stack—from physical layer signal integrity testing and forward error correction (FEC) analysis to Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocol and traffic testing. The system also integrates with Keysight IxNetwork, enabling large-scale Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic emulation at lane speed.
Commenting on the development, Alan Weckel, founder and technology analyst at 650 Group, said the transition toward higher-speed AI networking is accelerating. “The market is rapidly shifting from foundational training to inference and agentic models. The AI interconnect market—including scale-up, scale-out, and front-end networks—will approach $200 billion by 2030, led by record growth in 800G and 1.6T Ethernet. The move to 1.6T will be the largest and fastest cycle ever in the industry. Keysight’s additional AI validation software features along with AresONE 1600GE hardware will help customers scale in this new market opportunity,” he said.
Ram Periakaruppan, Vice President and General Manager of Network Test and Security Solutions at Keysight, said the platform is designed to address the growing complexity of AI-driven networking environments. “As AI workloads continue to scale, data centers are pushing speeds and complexity the industry has never seen before. With AresONE 1600GE, Keysight provides hyperscalers and other AI innovators a practical, proven way to validate next-generation network devices and infrastructure under real-world conditions, enabling faster deployment with greater confidence and significantly less risk,” he said.
