Intel Wants Light Peak Cables To Replace USB 3.0

Intel is promoting its Light Peak technology to replace or supplement USB 3.0 with higher speeds. At a slow 10 Gbps, Light Peak can transfer a HD movie in under 30 seconds. Intel has not yet built a USB 3.0 chipset, and Apple reportedly favors Light Peak. Intel is particularly promoting Light Peak for servers, which have high throughput requirements

An optical cable on your PC or server  that delivers 10 to 100 gigabits per second. That's Intel 's vision of its Light Peak technology, which the company is now promoting to replace or supplement USB 3.0. Even at the lower end of the transmission speed -- 10 Gbps -- a high-definition movie can be transferred in under 30 seconds.

On Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing, senior Intel fellow Kevin Kahn discussed the technology and showed a laptop with a thin Light Peak cable. The laptop was connected to a docking station and a monitor, where it showed high-definition video from a HD camera. He said Intel would "like to build the last cable you'll ever need."

Source: News Factor

Bypassing USB 3.0?

Kahn's prototype actually had the Light Peak cable running though a USB 3.0 port adapted with additional components, but which still functioned for USB. He noted that the size of the port could be reduced much more, to make the technology feasible for small mobile devices and enable smaller, faster devices.

USB 3.0, which is not yet widely available in devices, has a transfer rate of about five Gbps and cannot be made in lengths as long as optical cables. One of the reasons it's not widely adopted is because there is no USB 3.0 chipset from Intel, and observers are speculating that the chipmaker is bypassing 3.0 in favor of the optical technology. There are also reports that Apple, among others, is pushing Light Peak.

Intel has noted that electrical cable technology like USB is approaching practical limits not shared by optical technology. Kahn told the forum that Light Peak is not necessarily competitive with USB, and the two technologies could be complementary, in that USB protocols could run over a Light Peak cable.

Light Peak technology, unveiled in 2009, is expected to become available to manufacturers later this year, with devices containing the technology hitting the market by early 2011.

Light Peak for Servers

Light Peak technology utilizes a controller chip and an optical module that converts back and forth from light to electricity, using small lasers and photo detectors. Intel said it will manufacture the controller chip, and it is working with suppliers for the other components.

Richard Shim, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, noted that Intel is particularly promoting the use of Light Peak on servers, which, he pointed out, "have higher throughput requirements" than PCs.

Both server and PC customers are continually looking for technology that is "faster, smaller, cheaper," he said. But Shim noted that, even as bandwidth demands grow with the adoption of high-definition video recording, there will still be "lots of legacy equipment" around and any adoption of optical cables will take time.