Light Peak. Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into one serial signal alongside a DC connection for electric power, transmitted over one cable. Up to six peripherals may be supported by one connector through various topologies. A Thunderbolt connector Thunderbolt link connections Intel will provide two types of Thunderbolt controllers, a 2 port type and a 1 port type. Both peripherals and computers need to include a controller. Daisy-Chain configuration can connect host with 6 devices(5 devices and 1 displayer) Speed Chart Comparison of USB & Thunderbolt™ HighPoint Technologies,Inc. announces Thunderbolt™ adapter at Computex Taipei, provides the connection ability to SAS/SATA/PCI-E.
Thunderbolt was developed by Intel. A single legacy Mini DisplayPort monitor or other device of any kind may be connected directly or at the very end of the chain. In September 2010, some early commercial prototypes from manufacturers were demonstrated at Intel Developer Forum 2010.[19] More Details On Intel’s Light Peak; Release Slips To 2011. Intel is showing off its Light Peak interface at IDF (naturally) and there are a few new morsels of info about this promising next-generation connectivity technology. One thing to note is that they’ve delayed the real roll-out until some time in 2011; their original target was late 2010, but you know how it is. Intel demonstrated daisy chaining (LP can go 7 deep) and HDMI compatibility for Anandtech. The Light Peak cable goes into a small converter box (it requires no power and could easily be built into a TV or laptop) and HDMI comes out the other end. It supports extremely high bitrates, like uncompressed 1080p and higher, and that’s just with the initial configurations.
They’re talking about increasing throughput by 10x over the next few years. The plug they’re using right now is actually almost exactly like the USB one, for ease of testing I suppose, but they’re planning a new one that will minimize upside-down plug-ins and such. Intel Light Peak - Lighting up 10 Gbps links in 2011 - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News. The second demo involved a desktop PC with Light Peak connecting to a modified LaCie 4big Quadra, daisy chained to another display with a built in HDMI adapter.
Note that Light Peak supports daisy chaining as this demo was connected, but also supports a star topology like USB does. At the far left on the TV was the total bitrate of the storage system, which showed a solid 768.8 megabytes/s of throughput. That's 6.15 gigabits per second of throughput. Obviously the video must have been uncompressed to achieve such high bitrate, but the display itself was only 1080P. Both of these demos really show how close Intel is to finalizing Light Peak for consumer consumption, and how closely they've been working with partners like Western Digital and Avid for having devices ready eventually. Obviously USB will live on for years, and USB 3.0 still isn't completely ubiquitous, but the allure of using a single connection and cable for everything sometime in the future is hard to pass up.
The Tech. Intel Light Peak - Lighting up 10 Gbps links in 2011 - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and 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. Intel had two demonstrations setup illustrating Light Peak's potential as a bus for huge amounts of traffic. First up was a Compal notebook connected to an Avid HD I/O box, which was in turn connected to two more devices.
An external Western Digital dual drive solution with a Light Peak connector, and an HDMI adapter driving 1080P video content. According to Intel, Light Peak enabled Avid to move mixing control to the Compal notebook software suite. All of those white cables coming out of the Avid box on the left side are Light Peak. The Light Peak to HDMI converter box has also shrunk considerably. There's no external power adapter here either, just Light Peak to HDMI for the TV. Light Peak panned by OEM, report.