USB 3.0 might be one of the big stories here at IDF, but Intel just showed off a glimpse of the future: Light Peak, an optical interconnect for mobile devices that can run as fast as 10Gbps. That's fast enough to do everything from storage to displays to networking, and it can maintain those speeds over 100-meter runs, which is pretty astounding. Intel says the idea is to drastically reduce the number of connectors on mobile devices, which should allow them to get even smaller -- but the demo was on a huge Frankenrig, so don't expect to see Light Peak devices shipping any time soon.
Update: We just snapped a quick pic of the connector -- it's a connector, that's for sure. Check it after the break.
posted Sep 23rd 2009 1:01PM
100 meters is 320 feet? somebody help me here
more or less...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=100m+%3D+%3F+ft&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g2g-s1g7
Not being a dick, it's a tool I wish more people knew of.
You don't specifically need to google it in that format. You could just query plain English "100m in ft" or "Euro in USD". Not surprisingly, Google assumes that the query "Euro in dollar" implies the US dollar. :D
you can also say "to," as in "100 ft to m," or "100 feet to meters"
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=100+meters
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=100+m
or also "in", like "3 hours * 50mph in feet"
Google is my best friend. Ever.
wow, I really didn't know a meter was 3 and a quarter feet. Thought it was just 3 feet. I'm dumb.
Not at all dumb Levi, because a yard is three feet and a lot of people confuse yard and metre because they are so close.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=100m+to+feet&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
I vote for your query format!
Cables for mobile devices? Hmm... I don't like the idea, although 10Gbps sounds pretty nice.
that's awesome.
mobile devices should be well, mobile. sory but no.
As long as wireless isn't that fast there's always a need for cables. Just think about a laptop with 5 of such optical connectors. Now you can connect to this connectors a flash drive, a hard drive, a HD television, a speaker, the network cable, camcorder, ...
Or think about such a connector (or two or three) for a port replicator which contains a high end GPU. Finally the dream of one device which is both mobile and a gaming station at home is possible to come true with such a device.
Or take a look at the Macbook Air, how difficult it is to put all those connectors in such a slim case. I don't know how large the connector is, but maybe thin enough to easily fit 5 or more connectors on such a Macbook Air.
"so don't expect to see Light Peak devices shipping any time soon,"
WHERE IS THE REST OF THE ARTICLE???!!!! i won't be able to move on with my life until i find out what was meant to be said!
AHAHAHAHA!
Complete the article competition...GO!
There's 2 articles about IDF on the front-page of Bit-Tech
http://www.bit-tech.net/
Intel uses such pretty colors. LSD involved?
whee
Is this something like Matrox Extio?
I hope they push optical interconnects for more things. Get rid or USB, SATA, HDMI, etc and replace it all with a single standardized optical connection. Also would be awesome to get rid of PCI/PCI-E and replace that all with optical connections. Much more speed possible, much more flexibility (just think if you could connect 20 graphics cards outside of your case with only an optical connection required from the system, up to 100m away).
That not gonna happen for a looooooooong time
Or even repeating ports at first phase. One box near PC (or mac or what ever...) with few USB ports, HDMI, DVI, sound etc. then one optical cable (like 100 m / 320 ft) to other box with same connections. That would be silent computing.
Oh sure. Replace a cheap wire on your mouse with an expensive optical interconnect. Double the price of mice. Sounds great.
There is a need for more than one kind of connector for different uses. Just like how your phone doesn't have a 3 prong 110V plug on it.
man, that would be so sweet. and really technologically not that hard, and totally doable. the hard part is getting everybody to agree on it.
Good luck powering your mobile devices via an optical cable.
doesn't have to be solely optical, that picture looks like it has metal connectors as well, kinda looks like a usb connector, maybe it could be usb 4.0 with backwards compatibility :)
I think engadget lost my post.
Optical cables are not expensive and would be much cheaper if everything used them. Also, wired mice suck and cheap mice suck even more. Your phone analogy sucks, an optical cable is tiny and requires no more extra space than what would be required by any other copper cable connection. You do not have a 110v plug on your phone because phones do not have built in transformers (unless you are carrying around a shoebox sized or larger phone) and have no need for that amount of power.
Jeremy, do I need to do everything for you? It's called running additional copper cables for power when needed, or using some other power source, like wireless electricity or a docking station for your phone which has the charger separate. Use your imagination a little.
@nathan
woosh
Amazing! Can't wait for it.
read more about it here: http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm
And it even has a video!
Looks like usb to me... just saying
You know what else can do 10Gbps, is available now, and can do it over cheap copper cabling?
10 gigabit Ethernet over Cat6A cabling. Why do we need optical for this?
Just throw in protocols for optimizing streaming video, and "multi tasking" support, and we already have the technology ready at hand.
Copper cabling also has the added benefit of being able to provide power to devices. Sure, it'd be nice to load up a PMP at 10Gbps, but it would be nice if the same cable could still charge the device, like USB has been doing all decade.
Yeah and wireless sucks compared to the telegraph because you can't hang your laundry to dry without the wires.
Oh, and it can also do optical too.. for 300m.And it's backwards compatible with existing equipment. What's not to like?
intel should make OS
then all would be perfect :)
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moblin
I saw the word "legend of zelda" at the top of the page and instantly forgot what I was viewing.
Why not just say high speed cable for devices....what's so mobile about this cable?
Wow sweet
"As you can see here in my left hand these wires are more noticeably heavy compared to the ones on the other".
This article and links on the page should clear up some of your questions if you're interested:
http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm
And somehow Monster will sell a super premium version for 5x more than everyone else.
Are you stupid? That's because Monster will forge their optical wires using the sands of time from the great beyond, they work so much better!