IT abroad: Intel announces 50Gbps optical technology

Intel Corp. has shown working prototype of optical technology capable to move data at 50Gbps. Intel says that such a transmitting speed is equivalent of an entire HD movie every second. According to the company, the technology will be integrated into PCs, embedded devices, and consumer electronics by 2015.

Intel first announced its 50Gbps link last year in conjunction with the Integrated Photonics Research Conference. The company claims that computer market on the whole features even more powerful high-speed technologies, however they are not intended for mass introduction but aimed at specific areas, like supercomputers, trunk networks etc.

The company now reports that the new technology is based on a so-called “silicon photonics”, that is a solution, embedded in a silicon chip, which however enables optical data transmission. Intel previously claimed they considered optical data transmission technologies very promising and expressed certainty that these very systems would replace copper connectors.

In late 2010 Intel reported that the experimental technology would transmit data at 50Gbps over the distance of 50 meters. As for today this distance has grown up to 100, what is even more than enough for most consumer devices and offices. The new technology is expected to co-exist with a previously demonstrated LightPeak (Thunderbolt), which moves data at 10Gbps. Thunderbolt debuted in the last generation of MacBook Pro laptops, which became available in March 2011.