Intel's Light Peak Optical Cable Technology Has 100Gb/s Potential
Intel's Light Peak Optical Cable Technology Has 100Gb/s Potential
Posted 09/23/2009 at 6:24pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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If you thought USB 3.0 was going to be fast, just wait for Intel’s Light Peak technology. The new optical interconnect standard was just shown off at IDF. Light Peak is capable of 10Gbps of bandwidth, with a theoretical upper limit of 100Gbps. At the initial offering of 10Gbps, you could transfer an entire Blu-Ray movie in about 30 seconds.
The standard would also be capable of multiple operations on a single cable. This is all possible over a cable that can be up to 100 meters long. The Light Peak technology consists of a controller chip, and an optical module that converts light to electricity and vice versa. Intel claims that current electrical cabling is reaching the limits of speed and cable length, something Light Peak can circumvent.
Intel hopes to see the technology adopted for use in PC’s as well as handheld devices. They believe adoption could happen quickly, as Light Peak is complementary to existing technologies. As for a shipping date, Intel claims components could be going out as soon as 2010.
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jelenko
September 14, 2010 at 7:04pm
What is the benefit of having a cable that is able to transfer data at orders of magnitude faster that the devices at either end of the cable can serve/send the data?
bikerbub
September 24, 2009 at 3:56am
if intel can manage the price on this, and ssd prices go down, i would be onboard in a heartbeat. the only problem is, that its new technology, so its bound to be unearthly expensive, just like pci-e ssds.
other than that, it looks awesome. might be a little overkill for now, but it sparks a chain of events, i.e.: fast cables = faster harddrives = faster mobo = happy consumer :D
Yusonice
September 24, 2009 at 3:29am
Sata cant even write the information that fast currently! so whats the point of super fast way to transfer stuff?
Ryan Whitwam
September 24, 2009 at 3:34am
Yeah, well maybe you just replace SATA with Light Peak linked SSDs. The speed might melt your face.
mattman059
September 24, 2009 at 4:17am
Salesperson: " With speeds this fast, it could melt your face!"
Consumer: " I want to have my face melted! :D "
010000100110010...
September 23, 2009 at 7:58pm
Nice... though this technology is still in development, it looks promising.
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