Intel’s Light Peak optical data-transfer technology could start appearing in products as early as next year, according to reports.
Quoting an unnamed industry source familiar with Intel’s work, CNet is reporting that Light Peak could appear in products in the first half of 2011 – and closer to the beginning of the year than the middle. Such a move could be a boon to computer manufacturers that have seen USB 2.0 hit the limits of its capability but have yet to move whole-heartedly to USB 3.0, due in large part to a lack of support for it in Intel chipsets.
USB 2.0 speeds top out at about 480Mbps, while USB 3.0 promises speeds as high as 5Gbps. However, Intel officials have talked about Light Peak hitting 10Gbps or more with data moving in both directions at the same time.
That said, Intel officials have said they still have plans to support USB 3.0 and some reports have that happening as early as 2011, while others peg it at 2012.
“We’ve traded performance over distance,” he said during the conference call. “Photonics gives us the ability to move vast amounts of data across the room or across the globe at extremely high speed.”
Intel engineers noted a number of challenges facing the photonic technology, including the need to reduce the cost of it, but said it could begin appearing in PCs, mobile devices and servers by the middle of the decade.
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