LightSpeed Photonics: Computing at the Speed of Light

LightSpeed Photonics develops innovative, laser-driven photonics data transfer technologies that use half the electricity of traditional technologies, provide data bandwidth up to 10 times faster, and require a vastly smaller data center footprint.

Founded in 2020 and now based in Singapore and India, the company’s products address the growing demand for accelerated data transfer by converting high-speed electrical signals into optical signals—essentially turning electricity into light while physically closer to computer chips.

This data can then travel through fiber or even wirelessly using lasers before being converted back into an electrical signal on the receiving end. By integrating these light-based connections directly into computing hardware, LightSpeed Photonics products enable servers to run faster, use less power while managing more data, and take up less space.

LightSpeed Photonics used Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS® 3D design software right from the start to develop the assemblies for their innovative optical interconnects as well as the jigs, fixtures, and tooling for the firm’s test equipment. 

“We’re designing very small electromechanical components that are combined in the final product assembly,” Product Manager Raghuveer M explains. “It’s not easy to understand these assemblies without visualizing them in SOLIDWORKS in 3D, and we need to efficiently communicate these designs with assembly partners and other stakeholders.”

CEO Rohin Y adds, “We decided to move to the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform because of the multidisciplinary nature of our development process, which involves electronic, mechanical, and optical design, and the need to collaborate across multidisciplinary teams based in different countries.”

Colleagues from different disciplines in different countries can work collaboratively across 2,000 miles of ocean as if they were in the same office. Moreover, the addition of Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Works solutions offers transparent data management capabilities in the cloud that secure and safeguard data while maintaining tight revision controls.

“We’ve cut our design cycles by 25 percent because our cross-functional teams in both locations are always working on the latest revision,” notes Raghuveer M. “No matter who is working on the design in either location, we always have tight revision control and one version of the truth.”

In addition to saving time and money through more efficient and effective cloud collaboration between the two offices, LightSpeed Photonics is realizing time and cost savings by leveraging SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium nonlinear analysis tools. As Raghuveer M emphasizes, these tools reduce the number of design and prototyping iterations needed: “We do a lot of nonlinear stress and warping analysis, some thermal analysis, and occasionally vibration analysis; using simulation for design verification reduces the number of iterations and eliminates surprises and rework.”

Rohin Y also points out, “To bring high-quality products to market quickly and effectively, we must not only reduce the number of design iterations but also completely eliminate rework. Using SOLIDWORKS simulation tools and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform are helping us achieve those goals.”