New technology, very exciting, Great Potential

[Regenweald]

funny thing is, I've been thinking of this for years :) I should get a job in a think tank. This could turn computing on it's head i think( if done right)

http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm

What do you think ?

[earthpigg]

soooo instead of SATA SSD hard drives, we would have OATA (Optical ATA standard, maybe ATA-8 or ATA-9) and it would be 10x+ faster?

any given computing operation can only go as fast as it's slowest involved component.

what choke-point do we have presently (if any) that could be sped up by replacing with optical, aside from internet-related tasks?

[Exodist]

I am amazed they havent went forward with this years ago. So far its been mostly for communication hardware. Only downside is that the cables are slightly more expensive and more fragile.

[Regenweald]

soooo instead of SATA SSD hard drives, we would have OATA (Optical ATA standard, maybe ATA-8 or ATA-9) and it would be 10x+ faster?

any given computing operation can only go as fast as it's slowest involved component.

what choke-point do we have presently (if any) that could be sped up by replacing with optical, aside from internet-related tasks?

I think it's a push in the right direction, for sure the choke point of any system will always be the storage unit. With this, storage manufacturers will again be inspired to push the IO envelope hopefully.

[Exodist]

I remember reading somewhere about them trying to work fiber optics into the mobo somehow. Something to do with the bus. But that was years back.

[fuzzyk.k]

if it is implemented, it will have a very drastic effect on the information systems, I ask however if it is viable on a large scale

[Regenweald]

if it is implemented, it will have a very drastic effect on the information systems, I ask however if it is viable on a large scale

Well we do have a global fiberoptic network for telecommunications and data transfer so i think the technology concept has proven itself a long time ago. As Exodist mentioned, I'd love to see a motherboard using lightpipes rather than copper for the BUS. If data transfer across the board offers near Zero resistance, Individual components would truly be put to task.