Intel Light Peak: The Only Connection You'll Need

Intel's Light Peak technology could revolutionise the way we hook up peripherals to a computer, as well as boosting connection performance along the way.

The 10 Gbps Light Peak connection should be launched in 2011 and in a network of computers, for example, would allow data transfer speeds ten times faster than the current 1 Gbps Ethernet connection.

Apart from boosted speeds, the main advantage of Light Peak is its versatility, as it's a type of technology that carries data rather than being a communication language like the USB, SATA and Firewire protocols. This means it can carry all kinds of data using any protocol (USB, Firewire, SATA etc.) between both computers and peripherals.

In theory, then, the computers of the future could have just one type of connector—Intel's Light Peak—which could be used to hook up screens, external hard drives, optical drives, networked devices, and one day even a keyboard and mouse once production costs come down. In fact, costs could well fall quickly, as Light Peak uses optical signal transmission, a kind of technology that's not actually new.