Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sun Turns to Lasers to Speed Up Computer Chips

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the friggin-lasers dept.

alphadogg writes to mention that Sun is attempting to move from the typical design of multiple small chips back to a unified single-wafer design. "The company is announcing today a $44 million contract from the Pentagon to explore replacing the wires between computer chips with laser beams. The technology, part of a field of computer science known as silicon photonics, would eradicate the most daunting bottleneck facing today's supercomputer designers: moving information rapidly to solve problems that require hundreds or thousands of processors."

5 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Great idea! by peipas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I assume these systems will be water-cooled so the miniaturized sharks have somewhere to swim.

    1. Re:Great idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      How do you feel about Sea Bass?

    2. Re:Great idea! by utopianfiat · · Score: 3, Funny

      Depends, are they ill-tempered?

      --
      +5, Truth
  2. -1 : redundant by UdoKeir · · Score: 5, Funny

    To quote Scott McNealy:

    You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have SPARCS with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

  3. New warning stickers... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny
    From TFA: Each chip would be able to communicate directly with every other chip via a beam of laser that could carry billions of bits of data a second.

    Do not look at chip with remaining good eye.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .