Intel's Light Peak to Enable One Connection Standard for All Devices

Intel had a number of interesting things to showcase at this year's IDF 2009 event, in San Francisco, California, but one of the things that impressed was a new technology, which the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker unveiled at the show. Called Light Peak, the new technology is aimed at replacing all the different cables that go inside a computer system, thus creating one standard solution for all segments. According to Intel, all different peripheral connections that are related to the PC could feature a single type of fiber-optic link.

The technology was demoed yesterday during the second day of Intel's Developer Forum event, where Dadi Perlmutter, the chip maker's newly appointed co-general manager of the Architecture Group, said that the components for the technology would be ready in 2010, although Light Peak-enabled PCs could be further down the line. The technology, according to Perlmutter, is meant to enable the development of thinner and smaller laptops, a process that is currently influenced by the increased number of cable ports around the system's edges.

Among the benefits of the Light Peak technology Intel promised smaller connectors, longer, thinner, and more flexible cables, and higher transfer speeds, of 10 Gb/s. The company even believes that speeds of 100 Gb/s can be achieved in the next decade. Even more interesting is the fact that Light Peak will enable the ability to run multiple protocols over a single cable, simultaneously.

It is yet uncertain how close the technology is to mainstream adoption, but considering that Intel is currently working with industry players, in an attempt to standardize the solution, we could see some results sooner rather than later. This has the potential of becoming a universal port, substituting things like DVI, DisplayPort, USB, Firewire, HDMI and other wired connections.