thx OZ, agreed but also believe it's more than just Cisco who are looking to meet these challenges.

Back to Cisco for a moment, please see this previous post with link to a presentation where Bill Gartner, Cisco's SVP Optical Business Group, specifically says they wouldn't hesitate to adopt InP over their Si photonics if it provided a lower cost solution; and, a desire to get photonics down to ASIC level.  Mr. Gartner also seems to be speaking SV's language.

https://agoracom.com/ir/POETTechnologies/forums/off-topic/topics/738057-raymond-james-and-cisco-to-host-a-tech-talk-on-cisco-s-optical-business/messages/2261920#message