Why reinvent the wheel, Intel? (Light Peak Standard Theories)

If CAT 6 UTP cable can achieve speeds of 10 Gbps, CAT 7 UTP cable can achieve speeds of 100 Gbps, and CAT 7a UTP cable will achieve speeds beyond that, why will Intel need to move to light to achieve higher speeds for their Thunderbolt (Light Peak) technology? Why reinvent the wheel, Intel?

PS. I'm sure I could probably find the answer on Google, but I want to see what people here think! Good opinions can't always be found with an algorithm!

intel gbps utp opinion lightpeak apple

asked May 05 '11 at 20:38

djmoore711
2.0k●22●34●54

2 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

Here's why Intel "reinvented the wheel" CAT 6 UTP and CAT 7 UTP only carry data this is while Intel's Thunderbolt cables can carries data, video, audio, and power all over one connection this makes the technology 4 times as useful for the standerd consumer until we need to start transferring data at 100Gbps then the cable is still useful for audio, video, and power. So even though CAT 7 UTP can achieve faster data speeds it doesn't and probably wont ever carry power, audio, and video too. So in sort Intel didn't reinvent the wheel they made a better one.

answered May 05 '11 at 21:07

Monkinto
721●8●13●21

What I'm getting at is ... Why go to light, when it's been demonstrated that copper is capable of carrying bits at this speed and greater? The main reason network cabling uses light instead of copper is for greater distance, not throughput, nowadays.

(May 05 '11 at 21:28) djmoore711

Ok so I have a cable1 that can carry one of the 4 main types of data carried through cables. This cable can carry this one type of data faster than another cable2, but the other cable can carry all 4 of the main types of data. Which cable do I choose? I choose the cable that can carry all four types of data. Why you ask? I choose Cable2 because Cable2 uses light, and is theoretically capable of much faster speeds, and is also much more useful to me as a consumer because I now only need 1 cable to carry everything to and from my computer.

(May 07 '11 at 07:01) Monkinto

To make the wheel a lot better, djmoore.

Or would you rather chug along with stone wheels attached to your car?

answered May 05 '11 at 21:25

Illusion Slayer
(suspended)

As stated above, what does light do right now in short distances, that copper is not capable of in terms of speed? If the stone wheels can turn just as fast, if not faster, why change them? LOL

(May 05 '11 at 21:37) djmoore711

Because the stone wheels break, don't do as much, and aren't nearly as fast as new rubber wheels.

Light travels farther without signal loss and speed drops. Intel has said that while it is releasing at that speed it could go immensely faster.

(May 05 '11 at 22:17) Illusion Slayer

Your answer

toggle preview

community wiki

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

*italic* or __italic__
**bold** or __bold__
link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
basic HTML tags are also supported

learn more about Markdown