SuperSpeed USB 3.0 has opened whole new doors for external storage solutions, but Intel says that it has something even better coming. Intel has restarted the talks about the Light Peak technology that was presented last year. The technology uses optic light signals and achieve transfer rates up to 10Gbps, which is double the theoretic speed of USB 3.0.
When Intel lifted some more details on Light Peak during IDF 2010 it said that the technology could possibly scale up to 10 times the speeds seen today. The first products using the technology are slated to appear next year already.
Intel’s Kevin Khan said that Light Peak is the logic successor to USB 3.0 and that Light Peak would be the last cable we would ever need. The technology makes it possible to use several protocol and in that way we can use the same hardware but for different purposes.
Light Peak will not be an enemy to USB either. Intel demonstrated how Light Peak technology was used through a USB port and this is how the technology is expected to appear at first. Light Peak will make it a lot more convenient though and enable even higher data transfer speeds.
Intel said that it was open to integrating Light Peak into its chipsets, if the technology gets a wide adoption. It is planning to work ith industry partners where Intel hopes to replace electricity with light in the future.
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