Tech Shout!

IBM scientists will reveal a prototype optical transceiver chipset which is capable of reaching speeds at least eight times faster than optical components at the 2007 Optical Fiber Conference.

Basically, optical networking offers the potential to dramatically improve data transfer rates by speeding the flow of data using light pulses, instead of sending electrons over wires.

This prototype transceiver is fast enough to reduce the download time for a typical high-definition feature-length film to a single second compared to 30 minutes or more over the best available connectivity today. The researchers built an optical transceiver with the driver and receiver integrated circuits in current CMOS technology. Then, they coupled it with other necessary optical components made in much grander formats such as indium phosphide and gallium arsenide into one, small package of just 3.25 by 5.25 millimeters in size!

This ability to move information at such fast speeds of 160 Gigabits (160 billion bits) of information in just one second will surely usher in a new era of high-speed connectivity that will transform communications, computing and entertainment.

According to Dr. T.C. Chen, vice president, Science & Technology, IBM Research, “The explosion in the amount of data being transferred, when downloading movies, TV shows, music or photos, is creating demand for greater bandwidth and higher speeds in connectivity. Greater use of optical communications in needed to address this issue. We believe our optical transceiver technology may provide the answer.”

This technology could well be integrated on to printed circuit boards to allow the components within an electronic system, such as a PC or set top box, to communicate much faster, dramatically enhancing the performance of the system itself.