; Light Peak was designed to be a hub that connects all of your electronic devices together using light to transmit data at theoretical speeds of up to and over 100 GB/s. To give you an idea of how fast that actually is, think of being able to transfer 10 Blue-Ray movies in about 5 minutes. This new technology also overcomes existing cable specs by increasing length without speed reduction. It overcomes standard cabling by using light rather than electricity that encounters signal degradation over length. Light Peak is made out of a control chip and an optical module that performs the conversion from electricity to light using miniature lasers and photo detectors. What sets this apart from existing hubs is that Light Peak incorporates multi-protocol technology eliminating the need for certain connectors with different electronics. Intel unveiled Light Peak at IDF 2010 with an underwhelming speed of 10Gbps but hopes to refine the technology in the next ten years to reach its potential for faster speeds. Intel is expecting to release Light Peak to companies sometime in 2011 for incorporation into various consumer electronics. Does this spell the end for HDMI and the new USB 3.0? Perhaps we will just have to wait and see.
Eavesdropper