For those not familiar Intel’s Light Peak technology is a connectivity protocol mooted to replace USB, Firewire and Display connectors. The promise of virtually limitless throughput has an obvious appeal to those of us always hungry for (computer) power.

The latest news is that, after showing a prototype running on a desktop machine, Intel have scaled it down enough for it to fit in a laptop.

Intel’s chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, claimed that the bandwidth afforded by the optical technology is practically unlimited. “Light Peak begins at 10Gbits/sec, simultaneously in both directions,” he said. “We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You’ll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There’s almost no limit to the bandwidth - fibres can carry trillions of bits per second”.

Exciting times.

James