You could see some despair in Suresh's face when asked the question, but he did very well holding back his personal feelings about it. Surprisingly, I think he will be a great salesman for this technology because most of the people he will talk to will be geeks, and they will melt when he speaks about the magic he possesses.
The key, as you say, is "industry standards"; POET will make that industry standard cheaper, lighter, more flexible and easier to install than currently available with the copper behemoth that currently connects servers.
He went to some lengths to explain how unwieldy the copper cables are to install, requiring lifts for the techs to manage them in the racks.
POET's AOC will make life a lot easier for the techs, amongst many other advantages.