[lotuseclat79]

Intel's Plan to Replace Copper Wires.

A new kind of optical cable will provide ultrafast connections between electronic devices.

-- Tom

[JohnWill]

They're not mentioning the conversion to/from the optical media, that has significant propagation delays. For short runs as described, I'll bet that a copy wire with no conversion will be just as fast.

This seems to be more a PR stunt than a practical application.

[lotuseclat79]

Hi John,

The referenced article did not mention your point, however, if you follow the link at the end of the article you will find more information. To wit:

Light Peak consists of a controller chip and an optical module that would be included in platforms supporting this technology. The optical module performs the conversion from electricity to light and vice versa, using miniature lasers and photo detectors.

-- Tom

[JohnWill]

Correct, my point is that there is no gain for short hops over plain copper wire. Optical connections shine when more distance is involved. If you have conversions at both ends, you have to go a longer distance to make it pay off.

Now, my Internet is fiber connected, and I get phone, tons of TV channels, and Internet over a fiber that's not much bigger than a human hair.