Oh,the fibre works just fine, and has for some time now... That's what was used for the idf 2009 demo, and the original reason it was called Light Peak. Copper has more technical challenges, in fact. So it isn't a question of making this work over fibre. No, the reasons for copper are rather more mundane - consider that this is a consumer interface, not the traditional fibre application (commercial grade components, fixed installation, etc.).
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Anandtech is a good source for Intel news: First off, Light Peak speeds remain the same as we've previously seen at 10 gigabits/s, though opportunity to scale to 100 gigabits/s remains a promise for the future.
Light Peak Demo
I guess wiki also throws in some numbers too regarding this..
that appears to be pretty old info and nothing happened with it. they needed to team with apple to bring it to market, if they didnt, then they wouldnt have; so there must have been some sort of issue making it work reliably in an environment that isnt an isolated demo machine. the lightpeak cable in that pic does not look like it would cause any issues to the consumer, just looks like a regular thinnish white cable. so there has to be some other reason
i do believe that fiber can do those speeds of course, because its part of the internet backbone, although most is still copper
i do believe that fiber can do those speeds of course, because its part of the internet backbone, although most is still copper
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qusp: Bingo. Getting new tech out of the lab and on to the street often involves solving a lot of practical issues. A telecom tech expects to test and troubleshoot each link, and once that link is up, it won't be touched for months or years. But high speed fibre optics don't mix so well with the dirty environment, carefree treatment, and high expectations of the consumer...
Maybe not... this thunderbolt thing will be very exciting at the fall of 2012 at the earliest (spring 2012 to see PC laptops equipped with it, a few months of lag to get enough interesting peripherals). In the meantime, USB3 will rule the scene.
What I would expect in the future are computers with one external thunderbolt port (for displays, high performances HDDs and some various high performance applications) and a bunch of USB3 ports for everything else (thumbdrives, printers, keyboards/mices, legacy devices and so on).
erm the mac already has it on their latest model. i use macs. there is also already a few peripherals ready to go. it wont take long for there to be everything i need. i'm waiting for a mac mini with it to run my crossover, i would expect an updated model in the next couple of months. so i will buy mac mini and thunderbolt ssd drive
usb3 ports will probably still remain to support outdated hardware ;D but it isnt even needed, the adapters are also ready to go it seems.
usb3 ports will probably still remain to support outdated hardware ;D but it isnt even needed, the adapters are also ready to go it seems.
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yeah youre probably right, the optical link will still expect to find use in enterprise and video/film editing networks. major bonus if wanting it to be a link to end all links is the 10w of power that isnt possible over fiber
I know that Macbooks Pro have it (why do you think I wrote "pc laptops" ? 
).
If you were a company doing peripherals what would you rather develop for today ? The widespread USB3 or that port that can only be found on a very small share of the market ? Consider also that your USB3 device will still eventually be useful in a Thunderbolt world (just slap a thunderbolt to usb endpoint before it) and that, for many peripherals, a bandwith of 5Gb will be just as good as a bandwith of 10.
We might get some thunderbolt peripherals before 2012, sure, but probably way overpriced (the usual "designed for Apple" markup), restricted to some high end applications (extremely fast storage, studio tools, etc) and without much competition. For the two years to come, the real money is to be made on USB3 not on Thunderbolt. Afterwards, USB3, with its easy backwards compatibility, will probably be entrenched for a big section of the market and I don't see it being simply dropped. Most of the peripherals produced today are still USB2. They won't be "outdated" for consumers or entreprises before 3 to 5 years.
Adapters There's nothing more inconvenient than adapters (probably one reason DisplayPort is still to this day almost never found alone on any PC laptop). The problem with Thunderbolt is the requirement to have thunderbolt controllers on both sides of the chain (source and peripheral). For the vast majority of the peripherals, it makes more sense (bluntly said, it'd be cheaper and more convenient) to have the thunderbolt to usb adapters in the computer itself that in either an adapter or in the peripherals.
This said, I'll be happy to have such port available when I replace my current computer, in two or three years' time.
). If you were a company doing peripherals what would you rather develop for today ? The widespread USB3 or that port that can only be found on a very small share of the market ? Consider also that your USB3 device will still eventually be useful in a Thunderbolt world (just slap a thunderbolt to usb endpoint before it) and that, for many peripherals, a bandwith of 5Gb will be just as good as a bandwith of 10.
We might get some thunderbolt peripherals before 2012, sure, but probably way overpriced (the usual "designed for Apple" markup), restricted to some high end applications (extremely fast storage, studio tools, etc) and without much competition. For the two years to come, the real money is to be made on USB3 not on Thunderbolt. Afterwards, USB3, with its easy backwards compatibility, will probably be entrenched for a big section of the market and I don't see it being simply dropped. Most of the peripherals produced today are still USB2. They won't be "outdated" for consumers or entreprises before 3 to 5 years.
Adapters
There's nothing more inconvenient than adapters (probably one reason DisplayPort is still to this day almost never found alone on any PC laptop). The problem with Thunderbolt is the requirement to have thunderbolt controllers on both sides of the chain (source and peripheral). For the vast majority of the peripherals, it makes more sense (bluntly said, it'd be cheaper and more convenient) to have the thunderbolt to usb adapters in the computer itself that in either an adapter or in the peripherals.This said, I'll be happy to have such port available when I replace my current computer, in two or three years' time.
USB was dead in the water until the imac arrived with only a USB port, it was Apple that drove the development of USB peripherals.
Apple dominates graphic arts, video, movies, and sound production, as well as certain scientific niches, all niches that are willing to pay for this kind of performance even at the initial high cost stage. You are going to see stuff sonner than you think. Those who get on the bus early stand to make good profit, and be well positioned when margins start to plummet due to competition.
dave
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
LaCie is the premier manufacturer of high quality digital storage.
Can't find out how soon it will be available, but you can almost be sure at least the 1st 1000 are ordered and will head to hollywood for use with one of the new 17" MacBook on the set.
These guys say they will be shipping their RAIDs in Q2.
Expect to see cameras from at least the biggies pretty soon too.
dave
For Canon EOS 1Ds MarkIII that would be the life saver. SInce they switched from regular FW400 plug on EOS 1Ds to micro-plug FW400 on MarkII, they failed miserably. Otherwise outstanding camera, in my studio with heavy fashion photography usage, we needed to send one camera to repair the loose contacts on a monthly basis.
Phase One, it seems like it, is paying the price of alliance they formed with Microsoft - they just released a new back with FW and USB connection. I was sadden when they announced alliance a few years back, really wrong move that I knew will make them late or wrong on anything groundbreaking. I doubt they will have any time soon new back with Thunderbolt connection, but I would be trilled to be proven wrong. One thing that works for them is that after they took over Leaf, they are really the only one out there in that group. Imacon took over Hasselblad, but they are not even remotely as good as Phase One. Just my 5c.
Thats really cool, thanks Dave. SSD as well!
The death of physical formats is surely close now. Half a terabite of SSD via Thunderbolt from LaCie wont be exactly cheap, but I bet combining it with whatever the next gen MiniMac will be, will completely remove all excuses to carry on with an optical transport plus several cubic feet of polycarbonate! Bring it on!
The death of physical formats is surely close now. Half a terabite of SSD via Thunderbolt from LaCie wont be exactly cheap, but I bet combining it with whatever the next gen MiniMac will be, will completely remove all excuses to carry on with an optical transport plus several cubic feet of polycarbonate! Bring it on!
Half a TB of SSD by itself is not cheap. But compare today's prices to last years. And as volumes continue to ramp up, prices will continue to plummet.
I do know that given how many HDs i've had to replace in my laptops that the next laptop will have SSD, and it will save me $$$ (not to mention a lot of frustration, & time lost rebuilding)
dave
USB is a possible comparaison... firewire would be another. All those niche markets embraced firewire and look where it is today compared to USB2.
I'm not saying thunderbolt won't have peripherals at all. You can add Apogee to the list of the manufacturers who said they're interested by thunderbolt btw. I'm just saying that it won't kill USB3 as easily or as fast as qusp predicted it.
oh in that niche i think it will, it just has too many advantages and considering most of these guys are still in the late development phase anyway for usb3, i really dont see usb3 staying the elite force long if at all, but rather a top consumer product. the pro solutions will jump pretty quickly with this type of performance and functionality gain.
i think you missed my point. my point was that the companies out there developing the be all and end all devices in their fields have just been wiped out before release. they did not even get their time in the sun being the fastest whatever, when they can charge top dollar and make most of their sales to recoup the r&d. also many thinking about investing in such systems will hold off for the thunderbolt version
of course it wont shrivel and die, but many will have to reposition themselves before they even release the product, because they simply wont be the fastest, or most convenient, or the coolest
i realy dont see your point above either. firewire and usb had a decade in the professional systems before they were outdated. firewire utterly dominated pro audio, photography and video (on mac, but that is where the money was and where the pro market share was/is) for ages, with usb thought of as a poor slow latent cousin and was only entry level products in these areas that used it. only in the last couple of years was beaten by usb and now not really long after that happened usb is dead in the water for those markets
i think you missed my point. my point was that the companies out there developing the be all and end all devices in their fields have just been wiped out before release. they did not even get their time in the sun being the fastest whatever, when they can charge top dollar and make most of their sales to recoup the r&d. also many thinking about investing in such systems will hold off for the thunderbolt version
of course it wont shrivel and die, but many will have to reposition themselves before they even release the product, because they simply wont be the fastest, or most convenient, or the coolest
i realy dont see your point above either. firewire and usb had a decade in the professional systems before they were outdated. firewire utterly dominated pro audio, photography and video (on mac, but that is where the money was and where the pro market share was/is) for ages, with usb thought of as a poor slow latent cousin and was only entry level products in these areas that used it. only in the last couple of years was beaten by usb and now not really long after that happened usb is dead in the water for those markets
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USB is from Intel, they could kill it anytime it made economic sense... they are probably pushing heavily on the new tech
dave
oh yeah of course haha well there you go. they will be pushing the higher margin chipsets to the elite pretty quick i imagine and probably have a firesale on legacy licenses. they will still of course have to fulfill former agreements, but as you say they will be pushing the new tech as soon as its viable
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