IBM Chip uses Pulses of Light, not Electrical Signals for Data Transfer
In order to obtain faster data transfers, the data centers worldwide are currently using optical cables instead of copper ones, but this process has a drawback. The data being transferred has to be converted into electricity based signals so that the processor can analyse and compute the data and this process requires additional equipment. This conversion process is being made simpler by IBM as they have manufactured a low cost chip that integrates optical and electrical components side-by-side on the same piece of silicon.
[caption id="attachment_44387" align="aligncenter" width="600"]#-Link-Snipped-# Google Server Floor in Council Bluffs, Iowa[/caption]
According to the team behind this project, light has two key advantages over electrical signals. Firstly, data can be sent to across different parts of server without any loss of information. Secondly, data transfer speeds are higher when data is sent as light pulses instead of electrical signals. Each chip contains an unspecified number of channels and can handle up 25Gbps of light encoded data. The details behind the development of this chip are to be presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco and IBM hopes to make this technology to be available to end users in the next few years.
Source: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20646933" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">IBM chip aims to use light to speed up internet services - BBC News</a>
[caption id="attachment_44387" align="aligncenter" width="600"]#-Link-Snipped-# Google Server Floor in Council Bluffs, Iowa[/caption]
According to the team behind this project, light has two key advantages over electrical signals. Firstly, data can be sent to across different parts of server without any loss of information. Secondly, data transfer speeds are higher when data is sent as light pulses instead of electrical signals. Each chip contains an unspecified number of channels and can handle up 25Gbps of light encoded data. The details behind the development of this chip are to be presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco and IBM hopes to make this technology to be available to end users in the next few years.
Source: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20646933" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">IBM chip aims to use light to speed up internet services - BBC News</a>
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