Avago, IPtronics, join with Intel on Light Peak effort

Oct. 2, 2009
OCTOBER 2, 2009 -- Avago Techologies and IPtronics say they are working with Intel on its Light Peak optical interconnect effort. Intel announced the project, designed to develop high-speed optical I/O technology, at its Intel Developer Forum September 23.

OCTOBER 2, 2009 -- Avago Techologies and IPtronics say they are working with Intel on its Light Peak optical interconnect effort. Intel announced the project, designed to develop high-speed optical I/O technology, at its Intel Developer Forum September 23.

The optical cable technology, which Intel plans to make available next year, is intended to connect mainstream electronic devices like laptops, HD displays, televisions, cameras, video players, iPods, docking stations, and solid-state drives (SSDs) to each other using optical fiber at an initial speed of 10 Gbps. The technology will also support the transmission of multiple protocols simultaneously.

Avago has unveiled an embedded optical engine for use within Light Peak and other applications. “With an extra-thin profile of 2 mm and power consumption of 135 mW per 10G channel, this Avago embedded optical engine will fit in small confined spaces, which is an essential requirement for electronic computing and consumer electronic devices,” said Philip Gadd, vice president and general manager, Fiber Optic Products Division, Avago Technologies.

IPtronics says the Light Peak technology includes a controller chip and an optical module. The optical module performs the conversion from electricity to light and vice versa, using miniature lasers and photo detectors. IPtronics says it will supply the driver and receiver silicon that goes into the optical module. The silicon is already sampling, IPtronics says.

“As a longtime believer in optical interconnect and a strong player for the ICs for this technology, IPtronics is excited to see optical interconnects move into mainstream applications such as computers and computer peripherals,” says Jesper Bek, CEO of IPtronics. “The recent announcement of Light Peak technology by Intel -- and supporting statements by Sony -- show that optical interconnect is no longer just a niche technology for high-end servers and supercomputers, where it is already used.”

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