I ignore Thunderbolt because it delivers a level of performance, bandwidth and cost that exceed what I need for my home use pattern. Still, it is way cool if Intel can ramp the technology and get costs down. I see two recurring comment beefs. First, optical will remain expensive as long as Intel uses separate motherboard chips rather than integrating the logic onto its SoCs. Second, the cables cost too much. The Thunderbolt (interface) WIKI says:
"Intel and industry partners are still developing optical Thunderbolt hardware and cables.[24] The optical fiber cables are to run "tens of meters" but will not supply power, at least not initially.[7][25][26] They are to have two 62.5-micron-wide fibers to transport an infrared signal up to 100 metres (330 ft).[27] The conversion of electrical signal to optical will be embedded into the cable itself, allowing the current MDP connector to be forward compatible, but eventually Intel hopes for a purely optical transceiver assembly embedded in the PC.[26]"
Some (unannounced) Avoton motherboards scheduled for delivery prior to year end will integrate the motherboard logic into the SoC. Will Avoton exclusively support pure optical connections with no logic chips required in the cable? Might that enable cable cost reductions?
This looks like a fork to me. It sounds like the server side stuff may be about 10 times faster than Thunderbolt and cheaper to deploy. If so, post ramp, I want the server side stuff, not Thunderbolt.
"Intel and industry partners are still developing optical Thunderbolt hardware and cables.[24] The optical fiber cables are to run "tens of meters" but will not supply power, at least not initially.[7][25][26] They are to have two 62.5-micron-wide fibers to transport an infrared signal up to 100 metres (330 ft).[27] The conversion of electrical signal to optical will be embedded into the cable itself, allowing the current MDP connector to be forward compatible, but eventually Intel hopes for a purely optical transceiver assembly embedded in the PC.[26]"
Some (unannounced) Avoton motherboards scheduled for delivery prior to year end will integrate the motherboard logic into the SoC. Will Avoton exclusively support pure optical connections with no logic chips required in the cable? Might that enable cable cost reductions?
This looks like a fork to me. It sounds like the server side stuff may be about 10 times faster than Thunderbolt and cheaper to deploy. If so, post ramp, I want the server side stuff, not Thunderbolt.
