Using copper cables to transfer data around a computer? Get your head out of the sand, Grandpa! Intel thinks that's on the outs and is touting its recent accomplishments with Silicon Photonics and integrated lasers, using light pulses to move data at 50Gbps (last time we hear Intel tout the tech was 40Gbps in 2007). The emphasis is on low-cost, high-speed fiber optics, the removal of cable clutter, and with the speed boost, the ability to try new system designs by being to space chips farther apart from one another -- all theoretical at this point, of course. Researchers hope
