Cisco, Microsoft Detail Production Deployments at OCP 2026
Cisco says P200-powered 51.2T systems run in hyperscale production and outlines a planned 400G-per-lane optics spec with NVIDIA.
The story in focus
At OCP 2026, Cisco said 51.2T systems built on its Silicon One P200 are in production at hyperscalers, that G300-powered systems are shipping and that G302 is due before year-end. Cisco and NVIDIA plan an open specification for 400G-per-lane pluggable optics.
- Cisco says 51.2T systems powered by its Silicon One P200 are deployed in production by leading hyperscalers
- The first G300-powered systems are shipping; 51.2T G302 is planned to ship before the end of 2026
- Cisco and NVIDIA plan an open industry specification for a 400G-per-lane pluggable optics design
Silicon reaching customers
Cisco used the Open Compute Project Global Summit to describe how its Silicon One portfolio is reaching AI infrastructure customers. The 102.4T G300 is available for customer sampling, and the company says the first G300-powered systems are shipping. It also introduced the G302, a 51.2T top-of-rack switch chip with 200G SerDes, 1.6T optics and liquid-cooling integration; that part is planned to ship before the end of 2026.
Cisco is not the only party describing deployment progress. Microsoft engineering executive Anand Ramakrishna said Microsoft moved into production on systems powered by the P200, citing buffering capacity for growing cloud and high-performance workloads. Alibaba Cloud's Dennis Cai said his company deployed in-house Quantum Cat routers using the P200 for its eCORE backbone with SONiC. Cisco said those 51.2T P200 systems are the first of their kind in production at leading hyperscalers.
Optics plan, open effort
Cisco and NVIDIA said they plan to develop the Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable, a 400Gb/s-per-lane optical module. They expect it to offer four times the bandwidth density and 1.3 times the power efficiency of 200Gb/s-per-lane optics, and intend to create an open industry specification through a community-led multi-source project. Those figures remain targets.
Cisco also described SONiC support through Nexus One and CEO-level out-of-band management with the 8001, an A100-powered system. Live Protect for SONiC customers is planned to start mid-year 2027.
What is the status of Cisco's G300 and G302 silicon?
G300, at 102.4T, is available for customer sampling with the first G300-powered systems shipping. The 51.2T G302 is planned to begin shipping before the end of 2026.
Sources & further reading
- Cisco Advances Scalability and Openness at OCP 2026 ↗newsroom.cisco.com
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