IBM's 'Holey Optochip' transmits 1Tbps of data

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IBM's Holey Optochip transmits 1Tbps of data, is named awesomely
By Darren Murph  posted Mar 12th 2012 12:17AM



Be honest: was there any doubt whatsoever that something called a "Holey Optochip" would be anything short of mind-blowing? No. None.

The whiz-kids over at IBM have somehow managed to transmit a staggering 1Tbps of data over a new optical chip, with the fresh prototype showing promise for ultra-high interconnect bandwidth to power future supercomputer and data center applications.

For those who'd rather not deal with esoteric descriptions, that's around 500 HD movies being transferred each second, and it's enough to transfer the entire U.S. Library of Congress web archive in just 60 minutes.

Needless to say, it's light pulses taking charge here, and researchers are currently hunting for ways to make use of optical signals within standard low-cost, high-volume chip manufacturing techniques. Getting the feeling that your own personal supercomputer is just a year or two away? Hate to burst your bubble, but IBM's been touting similar achievements since at least 2008. Actually, scratch that -- where there's hope, there's Holey.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/12/ibms-holey-optochip-transmits-1tbps-of-data-is-named-awesomely/

[pwrhamr]

 Wow.