Intel releasing Thunderbolt optical cables later this year

Optical cables for Thunderbolt ports which enable faster data transfer over longer distances will be available later this year, Intel announced yesterday. Thunderbolt, introduced just over a year ago, is a high-speed connector technology that shuffles data between computers and peripherals. Current solutions are based on copper, but optical cable could provide much more bandwidth and on longer cable runs.

While the technology was actually introduced in 2009 due to the prohibitive cost of fiber optics at that time, the first Thunderbolt installs on Apple computers only came out last year – with copper cables. PC makers like Lenovo are only due to offer Thunderbolt equipped devices later this year.

Intel has said that copper cables are adequate for data transfers over short distances of up to 6 m, while optical cables will be able to transfer data over much longer distances. In addition as the technology develops optical will also allow for much more bandwidth. The only downside however is that devices that require power will require their own power supply as running power over optical cable may not be practical due to impedance-induced power drop.