Intel will start using light pulses next year to move data at blistering speeds in supercomputers, yielding potentially massive advances in high-performance computing.

It will use optical cables to move data more quickly than conventional copper wiring for linking computing and storage units. That faster data movement should improve system performance overall.

“If all your compute nodes are connected via photonics, it does start to make application performance look different,” said Charlie Wuischpard, vice president and general manager of Intel’s workstations and high-performance computing division.

Light pulses are already used for power-efficient and high-speed data transfers over communications networks, and are also finding a place in PCs and data centers. Intel’s Thunderbolt technology uses light to connect computers to peripherals like external hard drives at around 20Gbps. Intel has also developed an optical connector called MXC that can transfer data at speeds of up to 1.6Tbps between servers.

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