Intel Puts Light Peak on Dimmer Switch

Intel is turning on the lights, but without light. The chip maker will use copper instead of fiber in its new Light Peak optical interconnection technology, reaching speeds surprisingly better than the company expected, according to Intel architecture group director David Perlmutter. The copper achieved data transfer speeds of 10 Gbps, he said. More expensive fiber optics won’t come for a while, but will reportedly take Light Peak to 100 Gbps.