April 2, 2007

IBM Chip to Let You Download an HD Movie in One Second April 2, 2007

Read more HD , HD DVD , PC , Science , Technology

IBM trash-talks all those other chipsters with its latest breakthrough, an optical transceiver chipset that can accomplish the technological equivalent of cramming a basketball through a garden hose. The trick here is moving data through fiber optic cables at 160GB per second; that's eight times faster than today's optical components can do.

What does that mean for you and me? How about an HD movie downloading in one second compared with the snail's pace of a few hours it takes to download a 720p flick from Xbox Live today? All that breakneck speed will be made possible by this tiny device that's just 3.25 x 5.25mm small. But will this minuscule chip really solve the current bandwidth problem?

Continued...

There's plenty of fiber around, but until this breakthrough, it was all dressed up with no place to go. What's needed is this kind of technology that can speed up transfer and receive rates. Well, and then actually getting that fiber optic connection to the doorsteps of households across the world (otherwise known as fiber to the home) is no easy task, either. However, Verizon FiOS is making some progress here.

Once those connections are made, it'll be up to weasels like Time Warner Cable and Comcast to figure out ways to throttle this blazing speed, and charge you unreasonable fees for it. Propellerheads, check the press release link for details. – Charlie White

Press Release [IBM, via Sci Fi Tech]

Comments

This is as insane as the 80 core Intel chip. Gotta love it. Just need a 500THz graphics processor now ;)

posted-by Rohow | April 2, 2007 5:59 PM

Well if they can have fibre in japan, why not here. I don't know the speeds theyre getting as I've not really researched it but im sure it darn well beats ours. All we need is the cabling companies to get their act together and lay that cable.

posted-by Chris Satchell | April 3, 2007 4:43 AM

That sounds great, but surely a hard drive couldn't accept data at that speed anyway?!

posted-by BramblePants | April 3, 2007 9:01 AM

BramblePants: You'll find that in the uk that if you're exchange allows for 8mbits, that you are still capped by the local contention ratio which is usually 50:1 which means that you can share that 8mbits with up to 50 people. So if all your neighborhood gets broadband, then you are screwed.

The idea of this chip isn't for you personal use but for the exchange, so you would be shagin 160Gb per second with the same people in you street as a 8mbit line.

The only problem is that just the major lines will be affected at first, so only a gradual speed boost will be available till your whole phone or cable system is upgraded.

posted-by Joseph Le Brech | April 3, 2007 10:10 AM

Nice April fools joke!

posted-by Taj Dhaliwal | April 4, 2007 6:57 AM

Re: bandwidth in Japan.

I am getting a 100Mbps (non-shared) fiber to my home for around US$50/month. The fiber ends behind my desk - I know because the technician spliced it before my eyes.

The backbone is 1Gbps.

Haven't done serious speed tests, but its bloody fast.

posted-by Victor Vorski | April 10, 2007 4:10 AM

Hmm sounds interesting, but I also think its time, that something big comes out, this slow processor development is borring

posted-by HD wallpaper | May 12, 2007 9:30 PM