After more than a decade of research, USENET posts reveal Intel’s new connector that uses light as a speedy way to shuffle data between computers is finally ready to replace slower copper cables.
It’ll give network builders blistering fast transfer speeds in the short term, and allow the chip giant to re-think how servers are built in the long-term.
The cables will contain the new ‘MXC’ connector, developed in partnership with Corning, comprised of up to 64 fibres (32 each for transmitting and receiving), meaning 800Gbps can be transferred in each direction – with up to a total of 1.6Tbps (1,600,000Mbps) running through the cable at any one time.
The cables are smaller, more durable and have a range of up to 300 meters Ethernet is slower per lane and signals could degrade on cables that are longer than tens of meters an intel spokesman said. Corning, which said it would start making cables for end customers in the third quarter, but has so far not mentioned price.
Some initial adopters of the tech include Microsoft, Huawei, Facebook via the Open Compute Project, Arista, and Fujitsu. These outfits are among those sampling the MXC cables right now; the cables will go into mass production by the third quarter of this year, we understand.
With faster data transfers on the server level means more content faster for users. How this can be implemented on USENET servers remains to be seen. Imagine for a second how much data servers can handle by being able to split the data between even more USENET servers, more quickly? The results could be amazing.
