Now here comes A Chip That Can Transfer Data Using Laser Light. Once again, I can't envision the applications, but they will no doubt be extraordinary. From the article:
. . . the laser-silicon chips — composed of a spider’s web of laser light in addition to metal wires — portend a vastly more powerful and less expensive national computing infrastructure. For a few dollars apiece, such chips could transmit data at 100 times the speed of laser-based communications equipment, called optical transceivers, that typically cost several thousand dollars.We live in interesting times.
Currently fiber optic networks are used to transmit data to individual neighborhoods in cities where the data is then distributed by slower conventional wire-based communications gear. The laser chips will make it possible to send avalanches of data to and from individual homes at far less cost.
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1 comment:
Wow! Who said Intel was fading fast?
Could it be that cable companies are now due for at least a slow fade?
Verizon and other telecoms are trying to compete with cable TV networks via fiber-optic lines. I could probably get Verizon's new, high-speed, TV, etc., service if they strung fiber-optic cable to my house from the recently installed fiber-optic line on the highway.
With these new chips, Verizon and others will have a much cheaper, easier way to compete with cable.
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