Intel Corporation (INTC) Wants To Move Data At The Speed Of Light

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Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) recently announced plans to begin production of 800 gigabit per second optical network cable. This is based on technology that was developed at Silicon Photonics lab.

Intel’s vision

Companies such as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) can transfer data over long distances, however when traveling in and out of machines, information tends to move slower over copper wires. Intel wants to change all of that.

Wired explained: “From servers powered by the same the tiny chips that power your smartphone to new types of data storage gear, web companies like Google and Facebook are reinventing the modern data center, and Intel is among the hardware makers striving to help them down this road. The move to optical is part of a much larger overhaul of the world’s networking gear. Many companies are now following Google’s lead in building massive data centers that spread software across hundreds or thousands of servers that work in concert. Spreading applications across a large number of servers may be more cost effective than investing in expensive supercomputers, but communication between machines can be a bottleneck. That led Google to design their own networking hardware and software, and it inspired a wave of innovation in reprogrammable network gear. Optical communications is the latest piece of the network efficiency puzzle, and it would be a big leap forward over copper-based connections.”

The future of fiber optics is here

Fiber optics have been around for quite awhile now. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other companies have taken it one step further by offering fiber optic-based gigabit internet service. Fiber optics really has yet to catch on in data centers. The main reason for this is mainly cost. Fortunately, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s engineers kept price in mind when designing the system. The company has yet to disclose information on price or shipping. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) might also be the first customers for Intel’s latest fiber optic project.

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