IBM hefur tækni til að niðurhala efni a 160 Gg/s !

IBM scientists will reveal a prototype optical transceiver chipset which they claim will allow instantaneous feature length movie downloads. According to IBM, the transceiver is fast enough to reduce the download time for a typical high definition feature-length film to a single second compared to 30 minutes or more it takes today.

The ability to move information at speeds of 160 Gigabits in a single second provides a glimpse of a new era of high-speed connectivity that will transform communications, computing and entertainment. Optical networking offers the potential to dramatically improve data transfer rates by speeding the flow of data using light pulses, instead of sending electrons over wires.

The prototype optical chipset, created by IBM Research, measures only 1/15th the area of a US 10 cent coin, but is capable of transmitting the equivalent of 4 million simultaneous telephone conversations. The chip can transmit movies, music and photo downloads at an astonishing 160 billion bits per second. At these speeds, a full length high-definition DVD could be downloaded in just a single second.

"The explosion in the amount of data being transferred, when downloading movies, TV shows, music or photos, is creating demand for greater bandwidth and higher speeds in connectivity," said Dr. T.C. Chen, vice president, Science & Technology, IBM Research. "Greater use of optical communications is needed to address this issue. We believe our optical transceiver technology may provide the answer."

As the amount of data transmitted over networks continues to grow, researchers have been looking for ways to make the use of optical signals more practical. The ability to use these signals could offer previously unheard of amounts of bandwidth and enhanced signal fidelity compared to current electrical data links. By shrinking and integrating the components into one package, and building them with standard low-cost, high-volume chip manufacturing techniques, IBM claims to be making optical connectivity viable for widespread use.