The Micas Bailly switch — our 51.2 Tbps co-packaged optics switch, built on Broadcom's Bailly platform — is now OSPA 1.0 Aligned: its switch platform layer is designed to the Open Switch Platform Architecture (OSPA) 1.0, the open switch-platform framework developed in the Open Compute Project's Networking project. You get 70% lower optical interconnect power from Bailly's co-packaged optics, on a switch whose platform layer follows a common, open architecture.
OSPA — the Open Switch Platform Architecture — is a workstream of the Open Compute Project's Networking project, the same community initiated by hyperscalers and driven by contributions across the OCP Networking community.. OSPA 1.0 defines a common platform-layer architecture and interfaces intended to simplify platform management and improve portability across switch hardware platforms. Micas engineers are among the contributors acknowledged in the OSPA 1.0 specification.
Co-packaged optics has, until now, usually arrived as a tightly integrated, vendor-specific system. Designing Bailly's platform layer to OSPA 1.0 means the parts of the switch your team manages day to day — power sequencing, out-of-band access, hardware inventory, thermal control, and firmware recovery — follow a common architecture. OSPA 1.0 uses the In-Host model: platform services run on the host CPU, while the BMC handles low-level supervision such as power management and host bring-up.
Hyperscale operators increasingly build their AI fabrics on open standards rather than a proprietary control plane. Meta, which co-founded the Open Compute Project in 2011, describes its 51 Tbps OCP switches as systems built on OCP's Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI). The Micas Bailly switch is designed to OSPA 1.0 at the platform layer; its Broadcom Tomahawk 5 ASIC and co-packaged optics sit in the data plane, outside the OSPA specification, and its SONiC network OS support is validated separately by Micas.
Platform layer designed to the Open Switch Platform Architecture 1.0, In-Host model. Micas reviewed the Bailly platform design against the OSPA 1.0 platform-layer requirements, including power sequencing, out-of-band management, management access to optical modules, hardware inventory, thermal control, and firmware recovery.
OSPA 1.0 helps standardize the platform layer, reducing platform-specific integration.
A common platform-layer architecture can reduce platform-specific integration work and help standardize bring-up and management interfaces.
OSPA 1.0 is intended to support a more open, multi-vendor platform ecosystem by standardizing the platform layer.
OSPA is developed in OCP Networking, alongside the Optical Circuit Switching and Optics Reliability workstreams. The related Open Silicon Photonics for AI Systems initiative expects to submit its first specifications in Q4 2026.
The optical interconnect is now one of the largest line items in an AI cluster. In a traditional switch system, pluggable optical transceivers consume approximately 50% of system power and account for more than 50% of the cost, according to Broadcom. Multiply that across the tens of thousands of accelerators in a modern training cluster and the overhead compounds at every rack, every cable, and every spare part you have to stock.
Bailly moves the optics off the front panel and into the chip package itself. The platform integrates eight silicon-photonics-based 6.4 Tbps optical engines with Broadcom's StrataXGS® Tomahawk®5 switch chip, on a common substrate that minimizes the signal-conditioning circuitry a pluggable design requires.
51.2 Tbps of Ethernet switching at the heart of the Micas Bailly (M2-W6940-128X1-FR4).
Each engine packs hundreds of optical components and hundreds of millions of transistors, produced with CMOS foundry processes.
Advanced packaging with a highly automated, high-density edge-coupled fiber attach.
Bailly's laser modules are detachable, so they can be serviced without replacing the entire switch.
| Attribute | Specification |
|---|---|
| Model | Micas Bailly · M2-W6940-128X1-FR4 |
| OSPA alignment | OSPA 1.0 Aligned (Rev 1.0.0) · platform layer, In-Host model |
| Switching capacity | 51.2 Tbps |
| Switch silicon | Broadcom StrataXGS® Tomahawk®5 |
| Optics | Co-packaged optics: 8 × 6.4 Tbps silicon-photonics optical engines |
| Front-panel ports | 128 × 400G |
| Optical power | 70% lower than pluggables (Broadcom-reported) |
| Network OS | SONiC |
| Availability | In mass production |
OSPA — the Open Switch Platform Architecture — is a workstream within the Open Compute Project's Networking project. OSPA 1.0 defines a common platform-layer architecture and interfaces intended to simplify platform management and improve portability across switch hardware platforms. An OSPA 1.0 Aligned switch has a platform layer designed to that architecture. For the Micas Bailly switch, Micas reviewed the Bailly platform design against the OSPA 1.0 platform-layer requirements, including power sequencing, out-of-band management, management access to optical modules, hardware inventory, thermal control, and firmware recovery.
No. OSPA 1.0 defines the switch platform layer only. Data-plane elements, including the switch ASIC, optical interfaces, port configuration, and network OS support, are outside the scope of the OSPA specification.
The power and density benefits of the Micas Bailly switch come from Broadcom's Bailly co-packaged optics platform. Network OS support is stated separately based on Micas validation.
A co-packaged optics (CPO) switch integrates the optical engines directly inside the switch ASIC package instead of using pluggable transceivers in the front panel. The shorter electrical path between switch silicon and optics lowers power per bit, raises bandwidth density, and reduces the number of discrete modules a fabric has to inventory.
AI training clusters are limited as much by interconnect power and reliability as by compute. Broadcom reports that pluggable transceivers account for roughly half the power and more than half the cost of a traditional switch system, so the optics budget scales with the cluster. CPO reduces that overhead while freeing rack power and space for accelerators.
Broadcom reports the Bailly platform runs its optical interconnect at 70% lower power than pluggable transceivers and improves silicon area efficiency 8×. Meta measured 65% lower power per 100 Gb/s lane for Bailly-based CPO optics versus retimed pluggable optics in its production fleet.
Yes. The Micas Bailly switch is in mass production now. Contact Micas for datasheets, evaluation units, and lead times.
Yes. The Micas Bailly switch supports SONiC, the open network operating system built on OCP's Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI).
Meet Micas at booth #E5 to see what's next in open AI infrastructure — from networking and optics to factory-backed integration built for the next generation of AI. Learn more and book time with us at the show.
Learn More + Book Time At OCPNote: OSPA 1.0 defines the switch platform layer only. Data-plane elements, including the switch ASIC, optical interfaces, port configuration, and network OS support, are outside the scope of the OSPA specification.
