Light-Speed Computing A Step Closer

My father and I have been having this conversation for many years. Read a few old sci-fi books, and you'll see numerous references to instant computing via light waves. It seems like a few engineers at Intel are taking their leisure reading to heart in this ongoing endeavor.

Composed of six key elements, the silicon photonics project aims to replace purely silicon chips with a low cost, high bandwith medium for transmitting data. There are a few hurdles yet to be overcome, but initial testing is already yielding 12.5 Gbit transfer rates. To hope this line of funding is given national funding is an understatement. The technological applications of a hybrid fiber or purely fiver networking system would in theory allow near limitless expansion of not only the internet, but personal computing/networking in general. Intel provided a nice video to help drive that point home.

http://techresearch.intel.com/UserFiles/en-us/photonics/apd_flash/SiliconPhotonics.html

It's an interesting read, and I encourage all of you to retweet or e-mail the source link to your congressman, representative, or anyone in a high position of power you have access to. This should, and must be funded.