IBM has unveiled a green opticalprototype network technology for sharing huge files in
seconds.
The technology is designed for sending items such as
high-definition medical images, movies and other data in an
energy-efficient way, said
IBM.
The new technology uses light instead of wires to send
information and could allow, for instance, the transmission of
eight trillion bits (terabits) per second of information -
equivalent to about 5,000 high-definition video streams - using the
power of a single 100-watt lightbulb, IBM said.
This kind of bandwidth could drive
energy efficiencies in datacentres and speed the sharing of
large datasets.
This could involve scientists crunching data to discover new
drugs, or to forecast the weather. It could also be used by people
sharing high-definition movies between devices and friends, or
doctors sending high-definition medical images to a specialist in
seconds for diagnoses while the patient is in the office.
The system could also be used to power high-definition data to
mobile phones and other devices, said IBM.
The optical technology could also save massive amounts of power
in supercomputers. For a typical 100 metre link, the power consumed
by the optical technology is 100 times less than today's electrical
interconnects, and offers a power saving of 10 times more than
current commercial optical modules.
The prototype "green optical link" is designed to meet the
bandwidth requirements for peta- and exa-flop supercomputing.
The technology puts optical chips and optical data buses in a
single package with standard components.
"Last year we unveiled an optical transceiver chip-set that
could transmit a high-definition movie in under a second using
highly customised optical components and processes," said IBM
researcher Clint Schow, part of the team that built the latest
prototype.
He said, "Just a year later, we have now connected those high
speed chips through printed circuit boards with dense integrated
optical 'wiring'.
"Now we have built an even faster transceiver and have moved the
optical components away from custom devices to more standard parts
procured from a volume manufacturer, taking an important step
toward commercialising the technology," said Schow.