“A technology developed by Intel and backed by Apple is expected to appear earlier than previously thought, paving the way for very-high-speed connections on both PCs and Macs,” Brooke Crothers reports for CNET.
“Light Peak is now on track to appear in products in the first half of 2011–and likely earlier in the year than later, according to an industry source familiar with the progress of the technology,” Crothers reports. “Light Peak is significantly faster than even USB 3.0, carrying data at 10 gigabits per second in both directions simultaneously.”
Crothers reports, “Apple is expected to back Light Peak, if past comments from Intel still hold. Shortly after its annual developer conference in 2009, Intel said that it had showed the technology to third parties, got feedback, then incorporated the feedback into the next design, adding, at that time, that “Apple is an innovating force in the industry.” (Apple has reportedly claimed that it conceived the idea for Light Peak.) If Apple implements Light Peak, it would be a safe bet that the company will have a lot to say about the technology–maybe with a catchy name in tow. And it would probably not be wild speculation to say that Apple would want to be the first to use it.”
Read more in the full article here.
maybe they will have better success with this than with firewire
10 gigabits per second. Thats the frequency of X Band radar. Do they use waveguide to transmit it? It seems to me it would radiate off wires. Coax perhaps?
Some real concrete reporting here (sarcasm). Just a sampling of the language below:
Apple is expected …
…likely earlier in the year than later ….
“Apple is expected …. if past comments from Intel still hold.
If Apple implements Light Peak, it would be a safe bet….
And it would probably not be wild speculation to say….
Sure, it’ll be fast, but will it be snappy?
LightPeak is an OPTICAL cable interface. It is scalable to 100 Gbps. It is not an RF/microwave technology.
I dub thee Firelight
It’s designed to connect all of the Mac’s peripherals together, such as drives, cameras, HD displays, docking stations, etc.
I would imagine its application for consumers would be especially useful in home networking.
To OctoberMac , Thanks for clearing that up.
Faster, please!
I love the idea of replacing FW with a technology that can easily handle 100 meter cable lengths.
-jcr
@nanisani
Snappy? It’ll be Sassy!
Eagerly awaiting this with some huge files.
By the way, I find the old FireWire 400 is significantly faster than USB 800, working photo files from external hard drive.
“I dub thee Firelight”
How about iPeak?
Firewire is a great thing if you are regularly moving large files. USB 2.0 sucks by comparison. USB 3.0 might be interesting, but if Light Peak gets to market quickly enough, it will smoke it.
And there should be no reasonable limitations for the cables from what I can tell.
The last I read on light peak was that cable length was limited by it’s ability to power devices, just like USB, since electricity can’t be sent along the fibre. DC is notorious for it’s inefficientcy on long runs.
This is probably why we’re not currently seeing usb3 on any new macs. My bet is Apple will skip it and go straight to LightPeak. Now all the pc systems that spent this past year moving to usb3, will again have to change next year when LightPeak begins to catch hold.
So again, Apple isn’t behind, they’re actually further ahead than everyone thought.
“So again, Apple isn’t behind, they’re actually further ahead than everyone thought.” —3rdKidney
The day that Steve Jobs can’t stay ahead of the pack is the day he’ll retire. He lives to push the envelope. Politeness is seriously overrated. It would be a much better world if there were more people like Steve Jobs.
LightPeak might be nice in 3 years, but right now Mac users are disgusted to not have build options or at least Apple support of:
– FW3200
– USB3
– BluRay
– SDDs
– more stock RAM
If Apple does it, then every other manufacturer will follow.
LightPeak is a hybrid cable. Carries optical data along with enough power to drive a monitor.
Micro$oft is working on their own new standard – Heavy Valley.
So. This likely means that Apple will ONLY support LP and not also allow USB 3.0 as an option. USB 3.0 is currently available on PC’s. LP may already be too late and we’ll have the same tug of war we had when FW and USB 2.0 were out together. That would not be good. I have no doubt LP will be superior. But I hope Apple also upgrades to USB 3 so we don’t lose the ability to use peripherals that don’t use, or don’t want to use, LP.
I agree with Mike, at least with the first three items on his list.
USB3 vs. Light Peak is sort of like Kindle vs. iPad…. except more so.
@HG Wells
FireWire was and remains superior to USB2. USB3 is transitional, like the Kindle. Light Peak is OPTICAL and can do the job of MANY ports simultaneously.
Don’t worry, in their downward death spiral, Windows and their devoted minions will continue to support your precious parallel, serial, VGA and USB ports!
Now that Apple has reached the mythical 10% marketshare (and climbing) AND even Windows apologists will reluctantly acknowledge Apple’s role as tend setter and industry leader, Light Peak compliant peripherals will roll out and be FAR MORE quickly accepted than even FireWire was!
Just for a moment, imagine iOS devices with Light Peak ports instead of the ubiquitous Dock Connector.
Imagine… I wonder if you can….
LightPeak in 2011?, good!
Another reason to hold off buying a new Mac.
That and seeing how much Apple is going to close the gates in regards to the Mac App Store in OS X Lion.
So far I hear even “open” and “free” software on the Mac App Store will require DRM (that’s Digital Rights Management or Copy Protection) to lock it to the machine, keep it from being altered and then transmitted under their umbrella.
Will be very interesting to see how all this plays out, on the sidelines.
Name it “LightSpeed”…I’ll be waiting for my check, Steve.
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Starport