Intel: current Thunderbolt ports will support optical cables

Thunderbolt ports on current Macs will support optical cabling, according to Intel. If you recall, the company's original specification for the technology (codenamed Light Peak at the time) was to use optical cables and eventually reach speeds of up to 100Gbps. But in its first implementation Intel decided to go with regular copper wires instead, in order to save costs while still being able to hit the initial target of 10Gbps speeds.
Though many were disappointed by what was perceived as Intel scaling back the technology, it was necessary to get the technology out in the market at reasonable prices, and because of the way Thunderbolt is designed the move didn't necessarily affect Intel's fu... »read more

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