Google Fiber’s 1Gbps connection speed might seem a little excessive to you, but Intel’s latest technology puts it to shame. A new cable developed by the hardware manufacturer is capable of transferring data through its core at a staggering speed of 800Gbps.
Though it will be a long time until technology like this begins to have an effect on consumer internet connections or devices soon, this still represents a huge leap forward in data transfer technology. The cables are based on Intel’s Silicon Photonics technology, using 64 fibers to transmit and receive at a speed of 800Gbps either way. Since each separate cable is capable of moving data at 25Gbps each, the cable’s total speed actually aggregates to 1.6Tbps when working in both directions.
For now, the cables will be used for the transfer of data in data centers and supercomputers, where they will replace the 10Gbps cables currently in wide use. With any luck, we may one day reap the benefits of these amazing transfer speeds in our personal connections.
