Intel demonstrates Light Peak on a laptop, says 10Gbps speeds are only the beginning
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted May 4th 2010 2:56PM
posted May 4th 2010 2:56PM
Folks in Brussels for Intel's European research showcase got to get their hands on the company's Light Peak this week, with the first demonstration of the optical cable technology running on a laptop. Outfitted with a 12mm square chip that converts the optical signal into data the machine can read, two separate HD video streams were piped to a nearby TV, which displayed them with the help of a converter box -- a necessary evil until the Light Peak chips are developed for the display side of things. According to Justin Rattner, Intel's CTO, the current 10Gb / second speeds are just the beginning. "We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You'll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There's almost no limit to the bandwidth -- fibers can carry trillions of bits per second."
This is an important development. Thanks for covering this!
@shishi
Additional generic approval comment Engadget!
I don't know but is Intel going the Cisco route?
@shishi
I dont know if they are going the Cisco route but I could have thought Apple was working on this also, http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/26/exclusive-apple-dictated-light-peak-creation-to-intel-could-be/
I
@shishi : The man who says Light Peak is poised to fail, will meet my cold hand in a slap. Light Peak. is. the. FUTURE.
@blenderman345
(Said in an authentic 300 "THIS IS SPARTA" voice) ;) There, fixed that for ya...
@Mentat
Apple was not working on Light Peak, Engadget screwed the pooch on that article. Here's the real story:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10363956-64.html
Ah, the reason why USB3 is in all Intel's chipsets... oh wait...
also
Will this supersede USB3, HDMI and Displayport altogether and become the one connector to rule them all?
*shuffles off to build a time machine to see the result*
Let's just hope they come up with a connector that also carries POWER, unlike the nearly worthless eSATA.
@shishi Agree, in the future, we'll have normal GBPS connection at the comforts of our home. Hopefully google will continue its plan as well. http://j.mp/googlee-isp
So, where is it intel?
@pika2000
In Europe.
@furquanatique Specifically Brussels, Belgium
It's means… we'll have… we'll… UNLIMITED POWER!!!
@Author
OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAND??
@Author LIGHTPEAK - ITS POWER IS MAXIMUM
@Author
38400 x 21600 desktop resolution. Isn't that nice?
But you'll need around 200 GTX 480s or 220 5870s in SLI/Crossfire to be able to play games in that resolution.
Not even mentioning a personal nuclear reactor to power that PC...
[/s]
Seems like a great piece of technology, same as that 80-core CPU they were showing earlier. Too bad its so hard to find any use for it...
@Shinigami Umm, how about moving a 1GB file in 4/5 of a second? I think that's a good use.
@Shinigami
there's always going to be a use for high bandwidth transit.
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget Where is that data going to go? Limitations on speed are only due in part to the medium. There is still limitations on bus speed and drive (or whatever storage device you are using to store the data). I'm unsure but I do believe the light speed chip set itself will slow data transfer, since it is an added step.
@Shinigami Fiber is the way to go. When you don't need power on the other end, why not have really high speed transfer? Display's are a great idea.
You may not be able to use the full 10Gbps, but it means that your cable won't be the limitation, now we just need cheaper, faster SSD. ^_^
@aaron132
Ahh sure, they realise that you know.
So if I recall v1 can handle four things on one port. So you have gigabit Ethernet, display and two USB 3.0 devices hanging off the end.
More useful is that the one port can serve different needs. You might need 4 USB, I might need 2 display and 2 sata, someone else needs 4 serial ports. We can do it with the same laptop and one port.
Apparently they will have adapters on the cable end so you can plug in any legacy format. Apparently.
It's not just about a 10gbp pipe. Even still, it's a bottle neck out the way. Also it has already been tested up to 5km or something. Mmm a lightpeak network in a media shop and anyone can access any drive like it was local, or any display.
Ths is very useful
@Author Actually you'll have no power with Lightpeak. Unlike USB, extra cabling is needed for power. BUT. I guess a device that requires such bandwidth needs more power than USB can deliver...so you'd have extra wiring anyways.
Yes Please!
@thecybernerd For the average user it means high-def porn on multi-monitor setup
@Girish You mean multi-monitor Hi-Def Porn!
Is the optic connector durable enough as USB connector?
@mianmian I had a optic cable connection between my PS3 and audio amp, it is pretty durable
@mianmian The optical cable for light peak is inside the USB for this test. Second paragraph if you follow the link.
yaaaaay.. If were lucky well see this in 20yrs..My kids college laptop will have a light peak connection..
@neeko18
HDMI started its development in 2002. Only a year later, the first products with it were released. Now, only seven years later, is pretty much the de facto standard and not a single LCD TV is sold without it.
So, if this works, it won't take 20 years to be widely adapted. More like 4-5 years. Specially when you consider Intel is the company behind. I would be surprised if we don¡t get to see the first commercial units in the next couple of years.
@Hamaki Can Light Peak transmit electricity? If not, that's a major barrier to replacing USB
@Evster88 It's not supposed to replace USB http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/15/intel-says-light-peak-coming-next-year-can-and-will-coexist-wit/
@Evster88 Twist two thin copper cables around the fiber purely for electricity...problem sovled!
@Evster88 It's not that its replacing USB, its in addition. Like eSATA. Light peak connections between computers would be very fast. Imagine a 10Gbps LAN party. There would be many other uses too, NAS, external drives, external self powered USB hubs even. Just like USB can exist next to Firewire and LAN, lightpeak could exist next to USB.
Or you could just have lightpeak replace LAN and Firewire and display connections.
@celebbbb Give me a *ing break. If it's not a USB competitor then why is Intel dragging their feet on USB 3.0?
So much cool stuff has been happening in the gadget world this year. Engadget editors should definitely do a year in review for 2010 in addition to a "what to look ahead for in the next decade".
nice, now implement it!
That's great. Where's USB 3?
@(Unverified)
On motherboards available nationwide, and on newegg too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130273&cm_re=msi_x58_pro-e-_-13-130-273-_-Product
@furquanatique
I don't see it on any of the top end laptops yet though, or expresscard 2.0.
@DoctarPeppar
I think that's because USB3 isn't supported by Intel's current platform. Sure you can add it in, but it doesn't come standard.
not like this will matter, or at least i wont care, when my internet company will be charging me for youtube and torrents.
@BrianH Do they not do this currently?
light: awesome
proprietary connectors: less than awesome
intel: closer to the second than the first
@Wildman
USB is proprietary.
so why does verizion charge/put caps on FIOS @ home If bandwith is almost unlimited?
@brolin Not every piece of an ISP's infrastructure is fiber. There's still a lot of copper and coaxial cable running around with bandwith limitations.
Also, current switches can't necessarily handle that much data at once.
Oh, and caps are a marketing tool. More caps = more tiers of service = higher price points = ??? = Profit
"There's almost no limit to the bandwidth -- fibers can carry trillions of bits per second."
Wow... contradiction in the same sentence.
@Ahmed Alzayani
You know what the word "almost" means, right?