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Intel Light Peak Can Transfer Blu-ray in 30 Secs

Besides just new processors, Intel also demonstrated a new high-speed optical cable it codenames "Light Peak" that can connect together laptops, HD displays, cameras, video players, iPods, docking stations and solid-state drives.

Sounds like any other cable connecting standard, right? The difference is Light Peak uses optical fiber rather than copper wires, which makes it capable of delivering 10 Gb/s of bandwidth. Intel said that the Light Peak technology has the potential ability to scale to 100 Gb/s over the next decade.

Of course, as with any interconnect technology, Light Peak will need industry-wide acceptance for it to become a reality. Thankfully, Intel does have a major say in chipsets and company expressed that it intends to work with the industry to determine the best way to make this new technology a broadly available standard.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • gamerjames
    Useless if you are with TimeWarner
  • Quitoman
  • dman3k
    I've always wondered why not more fiber optic connections. Why not have 2 fiber cables and a cooper cable on one plug? (In, Out, and Power)

    gamerjamesUseless if you are with TimeWarnerROFL!

  • Fiberoptics are already used in internet Ring networks all over the world.
    They're also used in some Sony Audio & hifi.
    It's no surprise they will start using this in computers too.
    Just know that the fiber optic cables are very sensitive to nicks.
    Bend the cable twice in an angle and you can throw it away, or suffer loss of bandwidth.
  • icepick314

    we can look forward to Monster brand Light Peak cables where it can make the light travel 5 times faster than generic Light Peak cables.....
  • Grims
    Interesting...where do we go now after reaching the speed of light?
  • jarnail24
    I have been wondering if they can send audio through optic cable why can't they info. But now I see they can.
  • anamaniac
    Now only if more than government had fiber optic net in western canada. =D
  • Shadow703793
    Kind of late with the news Toms.
  • Zenthar
    I wonder if this could be used for inter-device communication, maybe it would now be possible to put video cards in external enclosures with their own PSU and ventilation. Is PCIe 2.0 x16 8GB/s or 8 Gb/s?