Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Apple
Is Apple behind the development of Intel's Light Peak?
If the relationship between Apple and Mac CPU provider Intel was any closer, the two companies might have to start labeling their record collections and discussing whether to keep the wagon wheel table. In an intriguing technology demonstration last week, it was pointed out that the in-development Intel ultrafast optical connection called Light Peak was being shown on a rather elaborate hackintosh, running good old Mac OS X. This raised an eyebrow or two, but the background story seems to be just as interesting.Engadget reports today, based on conversations with an 'extremely reliable source,' that Apple is behind the Light Peak technology, with C-suite-level discussions between the two companies dating back to 2007 about the specific implementation and capabilities of Light Peak. The post goes on to suggest that Apple will be doing rapid adoption of the optical tech a year from now, with Mac introductions slated for autumn of 2010 with the new port, and a low-powered version to follow along in the 2011 timeframe with future iPhones.
With the initial specification set to transfer data at a blistering 10Gpbs full duplex over cables as long as 100 meters (and with speeds up to 100Gbps lined up for future revisions), a single Light Peak connection could replace DVI, USB, gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, eSATA and just about anything else that would connect your computer to its environs.
One cable for everything, reducing clutter and increasing elegance? You have to admit, it does sound rather Jobsian.
Thanks to Josh Topolsky and everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cody Peterson said 8:24PM on 9-26-2009
If it goes pew pew pew when you plug it in, then I'm down
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Nate MC said 8:26PM on 9-26-2009
They tried this before, it was called FireWire then.
One cable to rule them all. How did that work out?
If the licensing fees are low enough this will catch on, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
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Erik said 8:33PM on 9-26-2009
Didn't they make the licensing fees zero on the new display port?
quandmeme said 10:04PM on 9-26-2009
display port is exactly what I thought of. Duplexed data streams. Apple seems to be interested in getting the most out of the pipes.
hindlist said 8:19AM on 9-28-2009
Nate MC is right.
http://www.hindlist.com
Erik said 11:54PM on 9-27-2009
Yes, Apple and some others tried this before. However, back then, Apple did not have nearly the clout that they now have in the computer industry, and FireWire was a direct competitor to USB. Since USB is the baby of Intel, THE big daddy of chip and port technology for 'PCs', it's surprising that FireWire has done as well and lasted as long as it has.
The big difference here is that both Apple, with a MUCH bigger amount of clout, nowadays, AND Intel are behind the Light Peak technology. Also, there is currently no other peripheral connect interface that can really compete with Light Peak. So, how can it possibly fail to be adopted?
Andre said 8:29PM on 9-26-2009
How do they power things with it (USB, FW, eSATA)?
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Andre said 8:31PM on 9-26-2009
Never mind, I read the article.
hss1 said 8:25AM on 9-27-2009
LIGHT PEAK WILL CARRY POWER
Light Peak will be an Fibre optic cable with a copper shield to carry power to devices. So using this cable devices will get power like Firewire and USB
steve said 8:33PM on 9-26-2009
Five years too late, in my opinion. If these cables are optical, then I assume they're not gong to carry 5 volts like USB.
Many things that are currently cabled up to computers, like keyboards and mice, we'd rather have wireless thank you very much.
For things like external drives, printers, scanners, etc. I'd either like them to be wireless or failing that, to have the cable do something useful like power the device USB-style.
These optical cables might be great for video (in or out) of the computer, and for use in SANs, but otherwise, I bet they won't be used that much.
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Ryan said 9:04PM on 9-26-2009
you assume wrong (from the linked articles)-
"In addition, Intel said it's working on bundling the optical fiber with copper wire so Light Peak can be used to power devices plugged into the PC, he said."
Personally, as a guy that supports many computers, I HATE wireless keyboards and mice. Everyone that starts out with one switches back to wired after a few experiences of the batteries dying (rechargeable models or not) or them getting flaky when the power is getting low.
steve said 10:10PM on 9-26-2009
Hi Ryan,
Some of the attached articles don't mention the copper at all, and the one that did mention it makes it sound to me like it's optional and not really part of the basic concept. I guess we'll have to wait and see what the real-world implementations are like.
I also support a lot of computers, and I certainly agree with you about the wireless mice and the keyboards -- of the past. I think the recent Apple wireless keyboards and mice have been just fine and I'm positive that in a couple more years there will be plenty of good BT-based wireless input devices around. This has to be a much easier & cheaper problem to solve compared to a cheap dual fiber/copper cable and corresponding plugs/jacks.
Bernard Ramsey said 9:06PM on 9-26-2009
I started cutting all of the cables behind my desk only to realize that it's still light years ahead.
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LAGal said 9:07PM on 9-26-2009
"my precious"
actually I rather like the idea. it is in line with the 'single' cable on my Apple LED except it doesn't have the Cerberus Head on the end. more like (if I understand it correctly) it would be something like a 12 pin connector where pins 1-4 are power, 5-8 are data (usb/firewire), 9-12 are display
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Zwilnik said 9:14PM on 9-26-2009
Actually it would more likely be simpler than that, just a fibre optic bundle and a copper wire, so power + 'data' where the use of the data is determined by headers in the data itself. So Network, video, peripheral etc. data is all able to be sent across the same cable at the same time. So while there might be more than 1 pin for data, there wouldn't be pins for specific types of data.
dagamer43 said 9:18PM on 9-26-2009
At 10Gbps, data transferred is going to have to be generated in realtime and not stored, because I don't know of any consumer grade hard drive that can read that fast (heck, even professional drives unless their in a RAID cluster or something). And where is this 10Gbps of data going to be stored on the other end of the cable as well?
I know this is is just preparing for the future, but economies of scale only really come to consumer products and I just don't see where the demand could be coming from which would require a cable bandwidth of this magnitude. Plus, don't cables plug into different devices?
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Samuel said 12:17AM on 9-29-2009
I got a 2TB drive recently, with the expressed interest of importing my 1TB drive and to carry on from that, thus only having one HDD instead of two. Do you know how long it takes to transfer over USB 2, I don't have FW800 and certainly not eSATA, my MacBook just doesn't have the ports - but Apple are hinting here that the only port I will need is this new one and so I won't have to worry :))
Leon said 10:25AM on 9-27-2009
Just my 2 cents worth...
Its not (just) about external devices, this could replace all the internal connections, including actual motherboard connections (I dont know the maths but I think 10gbps and up to 100gbps is faster than even an PCIx 16 slot, can anyone clarify?) all that on a single connection could seriously reduce motherboard components leading to smaller and more reliable computers (less parts = less things that can go wrong) and possibly towards that mega thin laptop/tablet, and probably greater power efficiency too (again, less parts to idle around and drain power)
Tis is all pure speculation on my part, dont flame me if I got something wrong xD
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maroon5lover1357 said 8:10PM on 9-27-2009
PCI express, the newest ones go at 16 GB/s, which is 128 Gb/s, alot faster then light peak
Russell Glober said 10:40PM on 9-26-2009
If the "record collection" reference didn't date you, the "wagon wheel table" one sure did! Heh. Right there with you, though...
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