Corowave laser technology to boost computing speeds
By Jeannie Choe 
posted March 5th 2007 6:31AM
posted March 5th 2007 6:31AM
As we eagerly await the next minute jump in microprocessor speeds, computing tech start-up Lightfleet presents its new patented Corowave laser technology, which they hope will send your ol' Core 2 Duos straight to the grave. Lightfleet's developments in laser transmission promise to boost efficiency in multi-core machines while also reducing space and power consumption. Each microprocessor, outfitted with a transmitter and receptors, sends and receives data in simultaneous arrays by using lenses to spread lasers and mirrors to reflect and direct them; each processor selectively receiving messages using embedded addressing information. This form of expedited and synchronous optical processing is ideally targeted toward large-scale applications tackling complex calculations. It really sounds interesting and all, but we'll need to see some real-world proof before we get all hyped up, and with no real mention of pricing or performance metrics, there's no way to tell yet whether these supposed advancements will be worth the added investment.[Via Slashdot]
Read - WSJ
Read - Lightfleet Corporation
Right...
I'll believe it when I see it. The problem with optical computers is not transmission it's actually processing those optical inputs without transforming them into electrical inputs (because this transformation kills any performance boost that optical processing gives you)
Yep... and what happenes when you gently tap the machine, or even the vibration from the fans and harddrives, and that causes the lenses and receptors to move slightly...
I highly doubt this will catch on... silicon forever!
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070305005323&newsLang=en
Just playing Devil's Advocate here, but with solid state memory becoming a reality and relatively dimminutive heat levels produced by optical circuits versus conventional electronics, there exists the possibility of removing moving parts from the home computer completely. with no heat being generated, we could multi-layer optical circuits like huge, sexy, mirror filled club sammiches and press all the guts into a 3d circuit board the size of a sugar cube or an olsen twin. assuming someone could come up with a solution to that "little" processing and transcoding problem (note: sarcasm), we may someday wear super computers in our fanny packs. think of how cool it would be, too, to smash a light computer and get your own little lazer light show. schweeet...
Removing moving parts won't get you "no heat generated". A CPU has no moving parts, yet it gets damn hot. Damn damn hot. So hot you can fry an egg.
This isn't an optical processing technology. It's an optical bus technology. The actual processing is still being done by CMOS processors (or whatever you want to use). The CPU's high speed data I/O is then sent a very short distance to the optical bus, where it can be sent over longer distance to connect with multiple other CPU's. This is significant because it's really hard to connect lots of CPU's together using electrical connections and still have good performance (high bandwidth/low latency). But optical doesn't have the same restrictions. I don't think that the concerns about vibration, alignment, etc will be insurmountable. So, IMO, there's no reason to doubt that this company is doing what they claim. But you probably won't benefit from it any time soon - this stuff is going to be targeted at super computers for a while.