Just when you thought that your USB 3.0 connection is the bee’s knees compared to USB 2.0, along comes IBM and their research team who has discovered a new way to transfer data, where it occurs at speeds of more data per second compared to just about any other method that is commercially available at the moment. Calling this transceiver the Holey Optochip, laser light is sent in as well as out of the chip, shifting data at a whopping 1 trillion bits per second. They might as well call it the Donut, since those 49 holes in there will provide safe passage for the laser beams to do their thing. At such data transfer speeds, surely comparisons must be drawn up, and it ain’t pretty. We are talking about it being eight times faster than the fastest comparable optical components on the market today, and it is also around 10,000 times faster than the 100 Mb/second Ethernet. Even better news is its energy consumption – or rather, the lack of it, at a mere 5 watts or less. It is a shame that IBM has not plans to use the Holey Optochip technology and incorporate it into a product.
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