Comments on: Optical Breakthrough Can Shrink SuperComputers

By: MIT and TI Develop Ultra Energy-Efficient Chip « Earth2Tech

MIT and TI Develop Ultra Energy-Efficient Chip « Earth2Tech — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:54:59 +0000

[...] big chip makers are working on improving the power efficiency of their microprocessors, from IBM’s optical supercomputing chips to Intel’s hafnium-infused processors. This new chip design is also a new proof of concept, [...]

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:58:53 +0000

rohit,

while you are right about that, this is part of an ongoing shift that we have talked about in the past. i think it be interesting to see how these technologies - various breakthroughs - come together.

i am getting increasingly impressed by the progress being made on this front.

By: rohit

rohit — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:58:51 +0000

a 100-1000 times reduction in modulator size has NOT been the factor holding up integration of optics w/ Electronics. In addition to this on/off switch, you still need a light source (laser), a receiver to interpret it back in to electronic signals (the modulator can be used for this function as well but may be inefficient) and the supporting electronics (which needs to go as fast as the optics it is driving so no savings there perhas not even power savings). All these incremental improvements help, I just do not think this is “the” one. Last fall’s silicon hybrid laser (UCSB + Intel) is a bigger impact breakthrough… still miles to go before we have something that is easily integrate with the rest of processor/electronics and used just like we use electrical I/O or interconnects… damn photons eh - they are lean and mean and go fast and can carry tera/peta/bytes of information but are really hard to get going (laser) or turn a corner (switch/shutters) or easily transfer the information they are carrying in to electrons.

By: Noclegi

Noclegi — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:50:17 +0000

If it is going to be this way further, we will have good computers in our mobile phones. Such a tendency still is progressing. I am greeting

By: Carolyn Pritchard

Carolyn Pritchard — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:41:31 +0000

It’s working on our end, Sunny — maybe try again?

By: sunny

sunny — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:29:24 +0000

The video no longer works!

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:12:30 +0000

Well they have been talking about it for a while, and lots of people working on it, but looks like these guys have finally done it at a level where this technology can be commercialized.

By: michaelportent

michaelportent — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:04:38 +0000

Haven’t they been talking about light relay breakthroughs for the better part of a year now? They should be using it in the next Intel processors by now, right? =P