Optical-Based Server Shipping in July

WRXWagon2112 · Post by **WRXWagon2112** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 7:45 am

Apparently it uses optical connections between processors...

ExtremeTech.com article

Article wrote:The Lightfleet "Beacon" server will connect multiple Intel Xeon processors using an array of mirrors, that will beam data using light, a system that Lightfleet calls "Corowave." The company demonstrated a 16-node server in 2006 as a proof of concept.

In its initial implementation, Beacon will have 32 simultaneous transmitters operating at 2.5 Gbit/second each, a Lightfleet spokesman said.

--Alan

Post by **Sabre** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:33 pm

So it's a faster interconnect.... like the AMD HyperTransport bus. I think the real breakthrough will be when processors go totally optical. This is the first step towards that though!

Post by **complacent** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:04 pm

Sabre wrote:I think the real breakthrough will be when processors go totally optical.

Totally optical wil be... err... umm... totally radical?