Holey Optochip! The One-Trillion-Bits-Per-Second Chip is Here

By Clay Dillow Posted 03.09.2012 at 11:08 am 10 Comments

IBM's Holey Optochip IBM

The high data loads of the future--and even the present--require that optical communications platforms continue to get faster, leaner, and cheaper. At the Optical Fiber Communication Conference in Los Angeles today, IBM will report on a prototype optical chip it has developed that has hit a significant milestone in optical data transfer: one terabit--that’s one trillion bits--per second.

That’s like downloading 500 HD movies at once, a speed matching the bandwidth consumed by 100,000 users at today’s average high-speed Web rates. It’s important to note that this a parallel optics chip technology, not a long-range fiber optic serial communications technology, so it’s not going to instantaneously boost the speed at which data traverses the oceans. But between computers on a local network (between different servers in a data center, for instance) this technology could provide some pretty searing speeds.

The chip itself gets its name from the fact that there are 48 tiny holes bored through a standard silicon CMOS chip that connects on the back side with 24 receiver and 24 transmitter channels. These channels allow a whole lot of data to move through the chip in both directions simultaneously, allowing for these terabit-per-second transfer speeds.

What’s more, in proper IBM fashion the chip isn’t some kind of behind-the-glass prototype never destined for commercial production. The company claims it achieves these record data speeds with excellent power efficiency--that a 100-watt light bulb could power 20 of the optical modules. They are also constructed from off-the-shelf, commercially available components. But there’s no word yet on when, exactly, this manufacturer-friendly optical device might begin taking advantage of those economies of scale and deliver the next-generation of cloud computing and data center technologies.

[IBM]

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10 Comments

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GMarsack

03/09/12 at 1:12 pm

Where would the world be without IBM? Thanks for making my life better.

---
In space, no one can hear a tree fall in the forest.

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Porphy

03/09/12 at 3:12 pm

This, to me, is beauty.

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Broseph

03/09/12 at 3:16 pm

Make this available for I/O, and usb, esata, and thunderbolt will all be dead. Sounds pretty awesome.
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NORML

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ghost

03/09/12 at 3:23 pm

this is straight up amazing! IBM you are better than Microsoft and blizzard entertainment! nerdgasm!

to mars or bust!

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adaptation

03/09/12 at 4:02 pm

100 watt light bulbs rarely power things. They are only 2.6% efficient and the solar panels you would use to convert it back to usable energy are maybe 30% efficient. So you end up with just 0.78 watts a loss of more than 99%.

Now running 20 chips off .78 watts would be .039 watts per chip, I have to say that is really quite efficient.

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Robot

03/09/12 at 4:23 pm

adaptation,
"Productivity" is a combination of being effective as well as being efficient. While you are in awe of efficiency, go back and read the article again on how the chip is effective in computational speed, 1 trillion bits per second. Combine both those perspectives with an additional icing on the cake it can be constructed from off-the-shelf, commercially available components!

I suppose for me,the awe is the '1 Trillion bits per second, from commercially available components', suggestion that my home computer in a few years may process this processor!
Now that would be WOWzers!

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.

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Eric18

03/09/12 at 7:26 pm

This is amazing!!! But this wont help Downloading speeds as much, Right? "It’s important to note that this a parallel optics chip technology, not a long-range fiber optic serial communications technology" So how exactly could long-rang fiber optic serial communications technology be advanced to mach this chip and is it possible?

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intrepidDesign

03/09/12 at 10:25 pm

Oh man, I can't wait to see how this will reduce my render times.

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patronanejo

03/11/12 at 1:06 am

"Commercially available materials" is not synonymous with "household objects". You can't order them from the Home Shopping Network, but you don't have to obtain a security clearance and fabricate them for yourself, either.

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Robot

03/11/12 at 10:40 am

patronanejo,
My above comment ended with the hope to see this in a few years. Yes from R&D to manufactoring takes time, not instantanous. This article give the impression I may see this processor say in 5 years. Well, I am realistic and happy with that; if it comes sooner better!

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense,ie. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses,ie. faith.

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