This Month's Latest Tech News in Santa Rosa, CA - Sunday August 31st 2025 Edition

Santa Rosa's tech scene landed front and center at OFC 2025 thanks to Keysight - the SANTA ROSA, Calif. company bringing lab-grade demos that matter for real-world AI data centers, from an eye‑opening 448 Gbps optical lane (a building block for 3.2 Tb networks) to 1.6T transceiver validation and an AI data‑center workload emulator that lets teams tune performance without deploying a full cluster; read Keysight's OFC media advisory for details Keysight OFC 2025 AI innovations demonstrations and research papers.

As local companies eye faster interconnects, Santa Rosa professionals can also prepare to work with those systems - the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (15 weeks) teaches promptcraft and practical AI skills employers want, with early‑bird registration available AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration, so tech talent here can move from curiosity to contribution in months rather than years.

At OFC 2025 Keysight joined NTT Innovative Devices and Lumentum to push a single optical lane to 448 Gbps using 224 Gbaud PAM4 - a tangible step toward power‑efficient 3.2 Tbps interfaces that help AI/ML systems move data between compute and network nodes with lower latency and higher throughput; see Keysight's announcement for the technical rundown and the RCR Wireless brief for industry context.

The demo paired Keysight's M8199B AWGs and N1032A DCA‑X oscilloscope with NTT's frequency‑domain interleaver and a Lumentum InP externally‑modulated laser, and also showed 240 Gbaud PAM4 scalability - a clear signal that bench‑level innovation is lining up with the data‑center needs of the AI era, giving Santa Rosa engineers and operations teams a concrete technology to prepare for.

“Achieving 448 Gbps transmission is a significant milestone in advancing optical interconnects for AI‑driven cloud infrastructure. This collaboration underscores Lumentum's expertise in photonics and our commitment to delivering cutting‑edge optical components that support the rapid expansion of AI and cloud data centers. As AI and ML applications require real‑time processing of ever‑growing datasets, our high‑performance externally modulated lasers will be instrumental in enabling faster, more efficient, and scalable data center networks.” - Dr. Matthew Sysak, Chief Technology Officer, Cloud and Networking Platform, Lumentum

Keysight's new KAI Data Center Builder brings Santa Rosa into the workflow of hyperscale AI teams by letting engineers emulate real-world AI clusters and measure system-level interoperability before racks of GPUs ever power up - think running Collective Benchmarks from Keysight's AresONE hardware or RDMA NICs to expose network bottlenecks and predict component failures so fixes happen in the lab, not during a costly training run.

Announced as part of the broader KAI architecture in Keysight's press release Keysight press release: Keysight Unveils Architecture for Scaling AI Data Centers and detailed on Keysight's product blog Keysight product blog: Announcing KAI Data Center Builder, the v1.0 Early Adopter release centers on Collective Benchmarks, supports nccl-tests for end-to-end GPU validation, and promises to accelerate design, deployment and operations by surfacing weak links - down to misbehaving NICs or interconnects - that component-only tests miss, saving time and sharply reducing deployment risk.

“Scaling AI data centers requires more than component-level validation. Interoperability, performance, and efficiency are system-wide metrics that can only be measured under real-world network conditions. Keysight's AI solutions integrate our deep experience in traffic emulation, component, and network compliance validation, and the latest industry standards to emulate every aspect of data center performance: compute, network, interconnect, and power to ensure AI infrastructure meets evolving demands.” - Ram Periakaruppan, Vice President and General Manager, Network Test & Security Solutions, Keysight

Keysight and Intel Foundry add EMIB‑T and EDA support for chiplet packaging - Santa Rosa's Keysight is now partnering with Intel Foundry to fold EMIB‑T silicon‑bridge technology into standards‑based chiplet workflows, tying through‑silicon vias (TSVs), HBM4 readiness and UCIe™ 2.0/BoW compatibility to pre‑silicon verification so designers can validate die‑to‑die links before costly tape‑out.

The collaboration expands Keysight EDA's Chiplet PHY Designer with advanced simulation for UCIe 2.0 and BoW, giving engineers a way to check link margins, power delivery and signal integrity for multi‑chiplet packages that Intel says can scale to dozens of bridges and a dozen‑plus chiplets and support very high per‑pin rates (reports cite 32 Gb/s class signaling).

In practice that means fewer late‑stage surprises for AI and data‑center accelerators and faster time‑to‑market for complex packages - a concrete win for Santa Rosa test labs and system integrators who need reliable, standards‑driven workflows.

Read Keysight and Intel's announcement and the industry writeups for the technical context Keysight‑Intel EMIB‑T collaboration announcement on Nasdaq and an independent overview of the partnership and tooling Engineering.com analysis of the Keysight‑Intel EMIB‑T partnership.

“Collaborating with Keysight EDA on EMIB-T silicon bridge technology is a pivotal step in advancing high-performance packaging solutions. By integrating standards like UCIe™ 2.0, we enhance chiplet design flexibility for AI and data center applications, accelerating innovation and ensuring our customers meet next-generation demands with precision.” - Suk Lee, Vice President and General Manager, Intel Foundry's Ecosystem Technology Office

Santa Rosa–based Keysight handed the city a strong economic signal in Q2 FY2025: revenue of $1.31 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.70, with orders up about 8% year‑over‑year and margins that stayed robust (roughly 65% gross, 25% operating), according to the company's results and industry coverage; read Keysight's report and the Globe and Mail summary for the full numbers Keysight Q2 FY2025 press release with full financial results and Globe and Mail analysis of Keysight Q2 FY2025 performance.

Beyond the headline figures, the quarter delivered $457 million in free cash flow and about $3.1 billion in cash on hand, plus more than $1.7 billion returned to shareholders over the past year - tangible balance‑sheet strength that helps sustain local supplier work, R&D hiring and planned acquisitions (Spirent is expected to close in Q3 FY2025).

The company's mix - roughly 36% software and services and 28% ARR - signals steadier, recurring revenue that can translate into longer‑term lab investments and payroll in Santa Rosa; the bottom line is simple: these are numbers that support both short‑term spending and multi‑year local commitment, not just an earnings press release.

CarMax's Santa Rosa presence illustrates how data modernization can be the hinge that turns AI ambition into everyday gains: after overhauling its data practices nearly a year ago with goals like better data access, higher uptime and cost optimization, the retailer is rolling generative AI into customer and associate workflows - from Rhodes, an associate-facing assistant, to a more agentic consumer assistant called Skye - enabled by Azure and earlier OpenAI experiments; CIODive's coverage walks through that modernization timeline and local context CIODive article on CarMax data infrastructure modernization, while a Modern Retail profile lays out how those tools scaled content and automation across the business Modern Retail profile: CarMax's top tech exec on reinventing a legacy retailer with AI.

The tangible payoff is striking: systems that once required years of manual work - CarMax summarized over 100,000 customer reviews into a few thousand highlights - now free staff to focus on higher‑value customer interactions, making data quality not just an IT metric but a local competitive advantage.

“I don't end a day without bringing up the importance of data and data quality for AI,” said Abhi Bhatt, VP of technology - data and AI.

Sutter Health's pilot with Abridge shows how ambient AI can shave clinician note time and improve patient encounters: deployed across ambulatory specialties with more than 2,000 clinicians in the program, the workflow lets clinicians record conversations (with consent), click “Create Note,” and receive a full, EHR‑ready clinical note plus a patient‑friendly summary that they review and sign in Epic - cutting the manual typing that steals time from face‑to‑face care and making it easier to capture details patients remember later; see Abridge's product overview and the June rollout announcement for how “Abridge Inside” maps notes and orders into Epic, and the AMA's coverage of Sutter's pilot for on‑the‑ground outcomes.

The practical win is simple and vivid: physicians report being able to listen more (not stare at screens) because the documentation draft is already waiting, turning hours of after‑work charting into a quick review and sign‑off that keeps more time for patients and life outside the clinic.

Abridge enterprise ambient AI product for clinical conversations | AMA article on Sutter Health's Abridge pilot and outcomes

“One really stark difference with ambient AI is this is really powerful and really is alleviating a lot of the burden that our clinicians have felt when it has come to using the electronic medical record.” - Veena Jones, MD, VP & Chief Medical Information Officer, Sutter Health

California launches broad free AI training for students and teachers - the state has sealed deals with Google, Microsoft, Adobe and IBM to deliver no‑cost generative AI courses, certifications, internships and classroom tools to K–12, the 116‑campus community college system and the California State University system, giving more than 2 million learners access to vendor tools (including Google's Gemini and Notebook LLM) and what officials describe as programs worth “hundreds of millions” in value; read the Governor's announcement for the full rollout and partners California Governor's AI training announcement and partner rollout and the LA Times for reporting that highlights both opportunity and trade‑offs LA Times analysis of free AI training in California colleges.

The practical upside is clear - faster, hands‑on paths into AI skills for large numbers of students - but educators and advocates warn this scale raises thorny questions about data sharing, privacy, cheating detection and how to teach genuine AI literacy rather than tool reliance, making implementation and guardrails the real test of success.

“AI is the future - and we must stay ahead of the game by ensuring our students and workforce are prepared to lead the way.” - Governor Gavin Newsom

State rolls out Archistar AI permitting e‑check to speed fire rebuilds - California has moved from pilots to a statewide option for Archistar's AI‑driven eCheck to fast‑track rebuilding after the winter wildfires, giving local governments a way to pre‑validate plans and cut the usual back‑and‑forth: the governor's office made the tool available to Los Angeles City and County and philanthropic partners to speed approvals (California state announcement on Archistar eCheck launch), LA County launched an Early Adopter eCheck pilot on July 15 for single‑family homes affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires in Altadena and Sunset Mesa (Los Angeles County eCheck pilot announcement), and Archistar's product page explains how the platform ingests PDFs or BIM files to deliver consistent, auditable “pass/fail” reports that applicants can download into permit packets (Archistar eCheck product overview and features).

The practical payoff is immediate: what used to take weeks or months can often be flagged and returned in days (pilot guidance notes results may take up to 10 business days), helping homeowners move from disruption to reconstruction sooner.

“The current pace of issuing permits locally is not meeting the magnitude of the challenge we face. To help boost local progress, California is partnering with the tech sector and community leaders to give local governments more tools to rebuild faster and more effectively.” - Governor Gavin Newsom

AI audio monitoring is making amphibian recovery assessments practical at park scale: modern bioacoustic models such as DeepMind's Perch and regional classifiers like HawkEars can sift through months - sometimes millions of hours - of passive recordings to surface the faint, nocturnal calls that signal a population rebound, so conservation teams at places like the Santa Rosa Plateau can move from spot‑checks to continuous, data‑driven monitoring.

By combining Perch's open‑source embeddings and vector search with targeted regional models, technicians can flag candidate red‑legged frog calls in minutes instead of the weeks traditional review takes, turning a chorus of night sounds into a sortable index that highlights true positives for expert confirmation; see DeepMind Perch bioacoustics overview DeepMind Perch bioacoustics overview and regional work like HawkEars wildlife acoustic research at the University of Alberta for higher local accuracy HawkEars wildlife acoustic research at the University of Alberta.

The practical payoff is simple and vivid: what used to be a nights‑and‑notebooks slog becomes a nightly data feed that quickly answers the core question - are the frogs back?

“This is an incredible discovery – acoustic monitoring like this will help shape the future of many endangered bird species.” - Paul Roe, Dean Research, James Cook University, Australia

Freeman Collision Center boosts operations with AI estimating and automation - Santa Rosa's 45,000‑sq‑ft shop has quietly turned routine admin into a competitive advantage by layering AI across intake, estimating and customer service: a BodyShop Booster–powered virtual call system captures after‑hours leads and paperwork while Tractable's computer‑vision estimatics help produce more complete initial estimates in minutes, letting human estimators concentrate on teardown, ADAS calibrations and OEM‑specific safety steps.

The result is tangible: capture rates jumped about 25–30%, customers get faster, clearer updates and Freeman's team spends less time on repeat follow‑ups and more on quality repairs - a practical win that shortens cycle time and protects margin.

For context on the capabilities these platforms promise (real‑time parts sourcing, calibration prompts and repair‑vs‑replace guidance), see collision repair coverage on modern estimating tools and Freeman's profile on Body Shop Business.

“Since inception, Freeman has been the innovation leader in training, equipment, process and tech, and has won many national awards for being a top repairer.” - Jesse Parks

Conclusion: what Santa Rosa should watch next - keep an eye on system-level capacity and the local talent pipeline, because infrastructure announcements abroad and modernization wins at home will reshape opportunity here: PLDT's VITRO Sta.

Rosa (an AI‑ready, hyperscale site with roughly a 50‑megawatt power footprint and more than 4,500 racks) shows how region‑scale capacity can unlock on‑demand GPU access for enterprise AI workloads, so Santa Rosa firms should track how that changes link capacity and cross‑border cloud economics (VITRO Inc. AI‑ready data center announcement and an industry roundup at InsiderPH coverage of PLDT VITRO Santa Rosa data center).

Locally, businesses turning data modernization into generative AI products - like CarMax's move from messy reviews to usable customer signals - underscore that workforce skills and data hygiene matter as much as raw compute (CIODive coverage of CarMax's generative AI data modernization).

For professionals and managers in Santa Rosa, the practical move is clear: combine awareness of global capacity shifts with hands‑on reskilling - start with practical programs such as the 15‑week AI Essentials for Work bootcamp to build promptcraft and workplace AI skills and be ready to operate the next wave of tools and services (AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration at Nucamp).

“Our goal has always been to position the Philippines as a digital and AI innovation hub. With VITRO Santa Rosa and our broader data center ecosystem, we are building the infrastructure backbone needed to power industries, accelerate AI adoption, and drive long-term national progress.” - Manuel V. Pangilinan, chair of PLDT