This document provides an overview of Intel's Light Peak technology, which uses fiber optic cables to transmit data at speeds up to 10Gbps over distances of up to 100 meters. It describes the key components of Light Peak, including the optical fiber, light sources, light detectors, and packaging. Light Peak aims to replace existing connection standards like USB and PCIe with a single universal optical connection. It allows for thinner, more flexible cables while providing higher bandwidth than copper-based standards. The document discusses how Light Peak addresses challenges with existing technologies and compares it favorably to USB 3.0 in terms of speed and cable length.

1. INDEX
 INTRODUCTION……………………………………..1
 LIGHT PEAK TECHNOLOGY: FEATURES ……….2
 TODAYS CHALLENGES……………………………4
 LIGHT PEAK VS USB 3.0…………………………...6
 COMPONENT OVERVIEW…………………………7
 FUNDAMENTALS OF OPTICAL COMPONENTS...8
 OPTICAL FIBER
 LIGHT SOURCES
 LIGHT DETECTORS
 PACKAGING: ASEEMBLY AND TRANSCEIVERS
 VCSEL
 OPTICAL MODULE…………………………………12
 LIGHT PEAK TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW……….14
 PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE
 LIGHT PEAK CONTROLLER
 LIGHT PEAK PLATFORM
 DIRECT NETWORK OF SERVERS
 DATA TRANSFER SPEED COMPARISION………19
 BRINGING OPTICAL TO MAINSTREAM………...20
 ADVANTAGES……………………………………...21
 DEVELOPMENT STATUS………………………….22
 CONCLUSION……………………………………….23
 REFERENCES………………………………………..24
0

2. INTRODUCTION
The present era is the era of connectivity. Think of any sort of information, and it can be
transferred to us within question of a little time; be it audio information, video information or
any other form of data.
Now talking about transferring data between our computer and the other peripherals, the first and
foremost standard comes to our mind is Universal Serial Bus (USB). It is a medium speed serial
data addressable bus system which carry large amount of data to a relatively short distance (up to
5m).The present version USB 3.0 promises to provide theoretical speed of up to 5Gbps.
But Intel has unveiled a new interoperable standard called LIGHT PEAK which can transfer
data between computers and the peripherals at the speed of 10Gbps in both the directions with
maximum range of 100m (much higher than USB or any other standard) and has potential to
scale its speed high up to 100Gbps in near future.
Light Peak is the code name for a new high-speed optical cable technology designed to connect
electronic devices to each other.
Light Peak is basically an optical cable interface designed to connect devices in peripheral bus. It
is being developed as a single universal replacement for the current buses such as SCSI, SATA,
USB, FireWire, PCIExpress, and HDMI etc in an attempt to reduce the proliferation of ports on
computers.
Fiber-optic cabling is not new, but Intel executives believe Light Peak will make it cheap enough
and small enough to be incorporated into consumer electronics at a price point that consumers
and manufacturers will accept.
Thus with light peak, the bandwidth would tremendously increase, multiple protocols could be
run over single longer and thinner cable.
The prototype system featured two motherboard controllers that both supported two bidirectional
buses at the same time, wired to four external connectors. Each pair of optical cables from the
controllers is led to a connector, where power is added through separate wiring. The physical
connector used on the prototype system looks similar to the existing USB or FireWire
connectors.
Intel has stated that Light Peak has the performance to drive everything from storage to displays
to networking, and it can maintain those speeds over 100 meter runs.
1

3. LIGHT PEAK TECHNOLOGY: FEATURES
“At some point the industry is going to have to transition. I think the next transition is going to
be to optics.”
- Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF president and chairman
Optical networking technologies have been over the last two decades reshaping the e ntire
telecom infrastructure networks around the world and as network bandwidth requirements
increase, optical communication and networking technologies have been moving from their
telecom origin into the enterprise and Light Peak is one of its successful outcome.
It is basically a new high-speed optical cable technology designed to connect electronic devices
to each other. It also support multiple protocols simultaneously with the bidirectional speed of
about 10Gbps (can scale up to about 100Gbps). In comparison to other bus standards like SATA
and HDMI, it is much faster, smaller, longer ranged, and more flexible in terms of protocol
support.
2
Thus it basically provides:
 Standard low cost high bandwidth optical-based interconnect.
 Supports multiple existing I/O protocols and smooth transition between them.
 Supports wide range of devices (handhelds, PCs, workstations etc.)
 Connect to more devices with the same cable, or to combo devices such as docking
stations.
 Smaller connectors.
 Longer (up to 100m on single cable), thinner and economical.
Light peak consist of a controller chip and optical module that would be included in platform to
support this technology. The optical module performs the task of conversion of electricity to
light conversion and vice versa, using miniature lasers and photo detectors. This transceiver can
send two channels of information over an optical cable, necessary, since pc needs at least two
ports. The controller chip provides protocol switching to support multiple protocols over single
cable.
The Light Peak cable contains a pair of optical fibers that are used for upstream and downstream
traffic to provide speed of about 10Gbps in both the directions.
The prototype system featured two motherboard controllers that both supported two bidirectional
buses at the same time, wired to four external connectors. Each pair of optical cables from the
controllers is led to a connector, where power is added through separate wiring.

4. It was developed as a way to reduce proliferation of number of ports on the modern computer.
Earlier USB was developed for the same purpose and performed very well in this direction but
increased bandwidth demand and high performance has led to development of new more
efficient technologies.
Combining the high bandwidth of optical fiber with Intel’s practice to multiplex multiple
protocols over a single fiber, optical technology may change the landscape of IO system design
in the future. It’s possible that most of the legacy IO protocols can be tunneled by optical-capable
protocols, so some of the legacy IO interfaces can be converged to one single optical
interface, significantly simplifying the form factor design of computers. This change in IO
system will definitely affect the design of systems.
Fig. 1: Abstract model of the optical-enabled system (Arrow shows that we are looking at the system from IO to
processor)
There are four main components in this figure, the IO devices, the IO controller which connects
to the IO devices through optical fiber, the processing unit and the interconnection between the
IO controller and the processing unit, whatever it can be implemented as.
Mobile and handheld devices are two fast growing market segments which attract interests from
processor vendors. For mobile and handheld devices, user interface and IO are two important
factors besides computing power that affect end users’ purchase decision. Taking power into
account, it’s possible that more carefully tuned IO workload offloading engines will be
integrated into the IO controller, saving the power to move the data from IO a long way to the
system memory. It makes no sense to have a high throughput IO system with insufficient
processing power or overloaded interconnections between IO system and the processor.
The ultimate goal of system architects is to make a balanced and efficient system, on both power
and cost grounds.
3

5. TODAYS CHALLENGES
In the coming future, people would be using more and more electrical deices such as HD
devices, MIDs and many more and user experience would depend on the huge volume of data
capturing, transfer, storage, and reconstruction. But existing electrical cable technology is
approaching the practical limit for higher bandwidth and longer distance, due to the signal
degradation caused by electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and signal integrity issues.
Higher bandwidth can be achieved by sending the signals down with more wires, but apparently
this approach increases cost, power and difficulty of PCB layout, which explains why serial links
such as SATA, SAS, and USB are becoming the mainstream.
However optical communications do not create EMI by using photonics rather than electrons,
thus allowing higher bandwidth and longer distances. Besides, optical technology also allows for
small form factors and longer, thinner cables.
4
Electrons v/s Photons
The physics has a kind of inevitability about it. Electrons travel through copper more slowly than
light through fiber. The USB connectors on the smaller devices like mobile phones have to use
mini-USB or micro-USB to save on the space taken up by the wiring and electricity through wire
creates electric field interference, but light do not create EMI since it rely over photonics. Optical
connecters can carry extremely narrow beams of light and fiber can be thinner because more
streams can pass through glass or plastic passages. Each fiber is only 125 microns wide, the
width of a human hair.
In the present scenario, the devices are getting smaller, thinner, and lighter but present
connecting standards seems to hinder in their performance being to thicker and stiffer. So
vendors turn over to new technologies providing much better performance and Light Peak seems
to be a providing a good solution.
Different protocols demands for different connectors leading to too many connectors and cables.
But in Light Peak there is the Light Peak protocol and the native protocols such as PCI Express,
DisplayPort, USB or whatever might be running on it. The native protocols run basically on top
of the Light Peak protocol. But the Light Peak protocol defines the speed. The protocol is
running at 10 gigabits per second. So, if the native protocols that are running on top of it are also
running at 10 gigabits per second, or something close to that, then the effective bandwidth for a
device on the other end would be equivalent to that 10Gbps.

6. Thus, it can be said that presently we demand for the devices and technologies that:
5
 Provides much higher bandwidth
 Provides more flexible designs, thinner form factor and new and better usage models.
 Much simpler and easier in terms of connectivity.
It’s possible that most of the legacy IO protocols can be tunneled by optical-capable protocols, so
some of the legacy IO interfaces can be converged to one single optical interface, significantly
simplifying the form factor design of computers. This change in IO system will definitely affect
the design of systems. It makes no sense to have a high throughput IO system with insufficient
processing power or overloaded interconnections between IO system and the processor.
Ultimately the main aim is to built an efficient and balanced system.
Thus Light Peak seems to be providing a good solution to the problems existing with the copper
connectors and provides a good platform for the high performance system.

7. LIGHT PEAK V/S USB 3.0
6
USB 3.0
 It is an electrical cable technology which transmits data using electricity which put
limitation on speed and length.
 It consists of 9 copper wires for transfer of data between the PC and the peripherals.
 Theoretically it can provide maximum speed of 5Gbps which on practical grounds get
restricted to about 3Gbps.
 It supports only USB protocol.
 The maximum allowable cable length for USB 3.0 is only about nine meters
LIGHT PEAK
 It is an optical cable technology which relies over light to transmit data thus providing
much better speed and length.
 It consists of 4 optical fibers for both upstream and downstream traffic simultaneously.
 Initial proposed speed for Light Peak (LPK) [10] starts at 10Gbps and has future potential
to scale up to 100Gbps. With this speed Blu-Ray movie can be transferred in less than 30
seconds (or in less than 3 seconds with 100Gbps).
 It is a Universal connector supporting multiple existing protocols.
 The maximum allowable cable length is about 100 meters and can be even extended
more.

8. COMPONENTS OVERVIEW
Light Peak consists of a controller chip and an optical module that would be included in
platforms supporting this technology. The optical module performs the conversion from
electricity to light and vice versa, using miniature lasers (VCSELs) and photo detectors. Intel is
planning to supply the controller chip, and is working with other component manufacturers to
deliver all the Light Peak components. The main components are:
7
 Fiber optics
 Optical module
 Controller chip
FIG 4: Prototype view of components of light peak controller
These are the fundamentally required components for a basic light peak connector. The
description for each would be given in forgoing discussion.

9. FUNDAMENTALS OF OPTICAL COMPONENTS
A basic optical communication link consists of three key building blocks: optical fiber, light
sources, and light detectors.
8
OPTICAL FIBER:
The silica-based optical fiber structure consists of a cladding layer with a lower refractive index
than the fiber core it surrounds. This refractive index difference causes a total internal reflection,
which guides the propagating light through the fiber core with an attenuation less than 20 dB/km,
necessary threshold to make fiber optics a viable transmission technology. For
telecommunications, the fiber is glass based with two main categories: SMF (Single-mode fiber)
and MMF (Multi-mode fiber)
SMFs typically have a core diameter of about 9 μm, while MMFs typically have a core diameter
ranging from 50 to 62.5 μm.
Optical fibers have two primary types of impairment: optical attenuation and dispersion
The fiber optical attenuation, which is mainly caused by absorption and the intrinsic Rayleigh
scattering, is a wavelength dependent loss with optical losses as low as 0.2 dB/km around 1550
nm for conventional SMF (SMF-28).
The optical fiber is a dispersive waveguide. There are three primary types of fiber dispersions:
 Modal dispersion:
It depends on both core diameter and transmitted wavelength. For a single-mode
transmission, the step-index fiber core diameter (D) must satisfy the following condition:
where λ is the transmitted wavelength and n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of fiber core
and cladding layer, respectively.
 Chromatic dispersion:
It is due to the wavelength-dependent refractive index with a zero-dispersion wavelength
occurring at 1310 nm in conventional SMF. When short duration optical pulses are launched
into the fiber, they tend to broaden since different wavelengths propagate at different group
velocities, due to the spectral width of the emitter. Optical transmission systems operating at
rates of 10 Gbps or higher and distances above 40 km are sensitive to this phenomenon.

10. 9
 Polarization-mode dispersion:
It is caused by small amounts of asymmetry and stress in the fiber core due to the
manufacturing process and environmental changes such as temperature and strains. This
fiber core asymmetry and stress leads to a polarization-dependent index of refraction and
propagation constant, thus limiting the transmission distance of high speed (≥ 10 Gbps) over
SMF in optical communication systems.
Optical fiber is never bare. The fiber is coated with a thin primary coating to protect the inner
glass fiber from environmental hazards.
Light Peak is based on Laser-optimized Multi-mode fiber (LOMF). By laser optimized it just
means that the fiber was designed to be used with lasers, and in the case of MMF, typically
VCSELs.
The internal diameter of each Light Peak fiber is 62.5 microns (around half the size of a human
hair, but thicker than the fiber used in telecoms). The beam expander moulded into the lens
expands that to 700 microns, so that dust — usually around 100 microns — may interrupt the
beam partially but the connection will still work. The beam expander also compensates for
distortion or movement in the connector after been used for a while.
Light Peak fiber has a 3-micron coating to prevent cracking, it can be bend to a radius of 3mm
and it won't break.
It is mixed with copper wires for power and fiber optic cables for data. The commercial version
of the connector has not been released to the public, but it would be possible to create a light
peak port that is backwards compatible with USB. The fiber optic connection could be deep in
the connector so it would be undamaged by a standard USB cable. Electrical connections could
be provided for a standard USB 1.1/2.0 cable so that the connector could provide both fiber optic
and electrical connections.
LIGHT SOURCE:
The light source is often the most costly element of an optical communication system. It has the
following key characteristics: (a) peak wavelength, at which the source emits most of its optical
power, (b) spectral width, (c) output power, (d) threshold current, (e) light vs. Current linearity,
(f) and a spectral emission pattern.
There are two types of light sources in widespread use: the Laser Diode (LD) and the Light
Emitting Diode (LEDs).

11. Both LEDs and LDs use the same key materials: Gallium Aluminum Arsenide (GaAIAs) for
short-wavelength devices and Indium Gallium Arsenide Phosphide (InGaAsP) for long-wavelength
10
devices.
Semiconductor laser diode structures can be divided into the so-called edge-emitters, such as
Fabry Perot (FP) and Distributed Feedback (DFB) lasers and vertical-emitters, such as Vertical
Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs).
For Light Peak optical modules, VCSELs are used as light source.
In optical networks, binary digital modulation is typically used, namely on (light on) and off (no
light) to transmit data. These semiconductor laser devices generate output light intensity which is
proportional to the current applied to them, therefore making them suitable for modulation to
transmit data.
Modulation schemes can be divided into two main categories: a direct and an external
modulation.
In a direct modulation scheme, modulation of the input current to the semiconductor laser
directly modulates its output optical signal since the output optical power is proportional to the
drive current. In an external modulation scheme, the semiconductor laser is operating in a
Continuous-Wave (CW) mode at a fixed operating point. An electrical drive signal is applied to
an optical modulator, which is external to the laser. Consequently, the applied drive signal
modulates the laser output light on and off without affecting the laser operation.
The direct modulation of a laser diode has several limitations, including limited propagation
distance due to the interaction between the laser, frequency chirp and fiber dispersion. This is not
an issue for enterprise networks which are short distance and thus lasers can be modulated
directly.
LIGHT DETECTORS:
Light detectors convert an optical signal to an electrical signal. It operates on the principle of the
p-n junction.
There are two main categories of photo detectors: a p- i-n (positive- intrinsic-negative)
photodiode and an Avalanche Photodiode (APD), which are typically made of InGaAs or
germanium.
The key parameters for photodiodes are: (a) capacitance, (b) response time, (c) linearity, (d)
noise, and (e) responsitivity.
Amplifier is needed to amplify the electric current to a few mA.
Light Peak modules uses pin photodiodes as light detectors since these are more economical.

12. PACKAGING: OPTICAL SUBASSEMBLY AND TRANSEIVERS
To enable the reliable operation of laser diodes and photodiodes devices, an optical package is
required. There are many discrete optical and electronic components, which are based on
different technologies that must be optically aligned and integrated within the optical package.
Optical packaging of laser diodes and photodiodes is the primary cost driver. These package s are
called as Optical Sub-Assemblies (OSAs).
Tunable 10 Gbps lasers use a similar butterfly optical package. The butterfly package design
uses a coaxial interface for passing broadband data into the package, which requires the use of a
coaxial interface to the host Printed Circuit Board (PCB). To operate with high- performance,
uncooled designs must be implemented with more advanced control systems that can adjust the
laser and driver parameters over temperature.
TO-can-based designs are now maturing to support high performance 10 Gbps optical links.
These designs being produced in high volumes will further reduce the cost of optical modules.
11
OPTICAL TRANSEIVERS:
The optical transmitter and receiver modules are usually packaged into a single package called
an optical transceiver.
There are several form factors for this optical transceiver depending on their operating speed and
applications.
Fig. 5: PCB of transceiver
Above figure shows an example of the printed circuit board of a transceiver. The industry
worked on a Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) document to define the properties of the optical
transceivers in terms of their mechanical, optical, and electrical specifications. Optical
transponders operating at 10 Gb/s, based on MSA, have been in the market s ince circa 2000,
beginning with the 300-pin MSA, followed by XENPAK, XPAK, X2, and XFP.

13. OPTICAL MODULE
Light Peak is based on 10G 850nm VCSEL and PIN-diode arrays with LOMF (Laser-optimized
Multi-mode Fiber) and a new optical interface connector yet to be determined.
The optical module does the function of converting optical signals into electrical signals and vice
versa. This module contains an array of VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser).
FIG 6: Schematic diagram of Optical module
VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface- Emitting Laser Diodes):
FIG 7: Simplified schematic for VCSEL without substrate, electrode for pumping, structure for current confinement
etc.
VCSELs are semiconductor lasers, more specifically laser diodes with a monolithic laser
resonator, where the emitted light leaves the device in a direction perpendicular to the chip
surface. The laser resonator consists of two distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors parallel to
the wafer surface with an active region consisting of one or more quantum wells for the laser
light generation in between. The planar DBR-mirrors consist of layers with alternating high and
low refractive indices. Each layer has a thickness of a quarter of the laser wavelength in the
material, yielding intensity reflectivities above 99%.
VCSELs has low-cost potential because the devices are completed and tested at the wafer level
for material quality and processing purposes and a matrix VCSEL is capable of delivering high
power( up to few watts).
12

14. VCSELs have low threshold current value, low temperature sensitivity, high transmission speed,
high fiber coupling efficiency and circular and low divergence output beam as compared to edge-emitters.
VCSELs for wavelengths from 650 nm to 1300 nm are typically based on gallium arsenide
(GaAs) wafers with DBRs formed from GaAs and aluminium gallium arsenide (AlxGa(1-x)As).
The current is confined in an oxide VCSEL by oxidizing the material around the aperture of the
VCSEL. As a result in the oxide VCSEL, the current path is confined by the ion implant and the
oxide aperture.
The wavelength of VCSELs may be tuned, within the gain band of the active region, by
adjusting the thickness of the reflector layers.
In the present demonstrated Light Peak technology, architecture of optical interconnects is built
up on the bases of four VCSELD and two optical links where thermal effects of both the diodes
and the links are included. Nonlinear relations are correlated to investigate the power-current and
the voltage-current dependences of the four devices. The good performance (high speed) o f
interconnects are deeply and parametrically investigated under wide ranges of the affecting
parameters. The high speed performance is processed through three different effects, namely the
device 3-dB bandwidth, the link dispersion characteristics, and the transmitted bit rate. Eight
combinations are investigated; each possesses its own characteristics. The best architecture is the
one composed of VCSELD that operates at 850 nm and the silica fiber whatever the operating set
of causes. This combination possesses the largest device 3-dB bandwidth, the largest link
bandwidth and the largest transmitted bit rate.
The Light Peak module detects when cables are cut or unplugged and automatically turns off the
laser.
The Light Peak optical module is only12mm by 12mm and drives two optical ports.
A single-chip solution will be in demand for Light Peak as well, but to date Intel has simply
suggested that it will be providing the controller chip and is working with industry partners to
provide other various components.
13

15. LIGHT PEAK TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
Light Peak Technology is an optical cable technology that consists of an optical module
and controller chip which allows multiple protocols to run over the single cable. From the
technical point of view, Intel’s Light Peak Technology can be overviewed as:
14
 Light peak protocol
 Light Peak controller
 Light peak platforms
 Server Network
LIGHT PEAK PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE:
Efficient transport mechanism:
It uses packet switch multiplexing.
 Packetize data to transfer
 Multiplex it onto the wire
 Packets from different connections share the same link.
Each packet is composed by the payload (the data we want to transmit) and a header. The header
contains information useful for transmission, such as:
• Source (sender’s) address
• Destination (recipient’s) address
• Packet size
• Sequence number
• Error checking information

16. IO
Pro
toc
ol
IO
Pro
toc
ol
Application ocol
specific
Protocol
LIGHT Common Transport
PEAK
Electrical/Optical
PHY
Cable and
connectors
FIG 8: Simplified view of protocol
Light Peak Networks use a similar idea of packet switching.
IO
prot
All the IO devices may have their native protocols but when using Light Peak they all run over
Light Peak protocol. That is they uses their individual protocol for data transfer but their speed is
defined by light peak.
Also it uses Virtual Wire Semantics thus performs high level of isolation between high level
protocols (QoS).
It provides cheap switching and establishes all routing at the setup only.
15
LIGHT PEAK CONTROLLER:
At the heart of Light Peak is an Intel-designed controller chip that handles the protocols, along
with an optical module that converts electrical signals to photons and vice versa.
Basic implementation unit of Light Peak Controller contains:
 A Cross bar switching unit: switches the various protocols from LPK to their respective
protocol adapter.
 LPK Ports and Protocol Adapter ports: LPK ports to connect down to PC using any
standard and diverging it their respective protocol through protocol adapter.

17. LIGHT PEAK PORTS
LPK
LPK
LPK
16
PROTOCOL
ADAPTER
PORTS
Adapter
Adapter
Adapter
LPK
Adapter
Adapter
Adapter
Crossbar
Switch
FIG 9: LIGHT PEAK CONTROLLER SCHEMATIC
Fig. 10: LPK controller chip
The Host controller is typically multi protocol and has multiple ports with a software interface
unit and is optimized for host side implementation whereas the peripheral controller could be
single port and single protocol-based and is optimized for particular usage.
This is because of this controller chip that different protocols get identified and transmitted
correctly. API (Application programming interface) helps to determine the different protocols. It
places the FIS (Flag Identification Symbol) packets in the memory, the controller access these
packets from the memory and send these packets to the destination over the optical link.
The multi-protocol capability the controller implements is an innovative new technology that
will enable new usage models like flexible system designs and thinner form factors, media
creation and connectivity, faster media transfer and cable simplification.

18. 17
LIGHT PEAK PLATFORM:
A typical Light Peak platform can be viewed with few of these examples:
FIG 11 Mobile Platform
CPU Mem
dGFX
PCH
LPK
Controller
PCIe
Display
FIG 12: Entusiast/Workstation
PCIe
DMI
CPU
IOH
Mem
dGFX
ICH
PCIe
LPK
Controller
LPK
Display Contoller
PCIe
QPI
DMI
PCIe
Display

19. 18
DIRECT NETWORK OF SERVERS:
Goal: Build a high-bandwidth, fault- resilient, low-cost network that can deliver performance
isolation across applications.
Approach:
– Integrate low-radix switches into several platforms.
– Interconnect servers directly using multi- path topologies.
Why Light Peak to be considered as an option?
– Small buffers and tables enable cheaper switching components
– Bandwidth allocation and performance isolation
– Flexible topologies and multi-path enables better resiliency.
SERVER
SERVER
SERVER
SERVER

20. DATA TRANSFER SPEED COMPARISION
How does Light Peak compare to the latest technologies? The slowest is wireless. HDMI version
1.3 and higher will transfer at 10.2 Gbps, while Display Port can go up to 10.8 Gbps. These are
slightly better than Light Peak, but they are mostly designed for video. No one is pushing the
data transfer rates of these protocols.
FIG 13: The chart shows how Light Peak compares to all of these other protocols. At 10 Gbps, it can cover a whole
range of transfer protocols. The magic of Light Peaks is that it can become the cable of choice for all these protocols
with no significant loss in transfer speed.
19

21. BRINGING OPTICAL TO MAINSTREAM
Since Light Peak is developed to meet PC requirements and the telecom ones, thus the Light
Peak optical module can be designed to be lower cost than Telecom optical modules. This is due
to some modification in design considerations:
 First Intel relaxed the optical standards required of its components. In the telecom
market, components must meet stringent Telcordia standards, such as a 20-year lifetime.
Obviously, that kind of longevity is not required in the PC market, so Intel lowered its
requirements to a five- to seven-year lifetime.
 Requirements for the operating environment also are not as rigorous. Intel lowered
thermal requirements from the Telcordia-specified range of 0° to 85° to a more relaxed 5°
to 65°. Intel had originally intended to specify a range starting at 0° but then realized that
batteries freeze at that temperature, making the operation of the PC a moot point.
 The company also relaxed its specification for number of failures per lifetime. I f there is
a failure on a trans-Atlantic cable, it’s a big deal. But the potential failure of one of four
ports on a PC, for example, is not nearly as critical.
 Because Light Peak is intended for distances of 100 m or less—and dispersion is,
therefore, not an issue—spectral-width requirements also can be less stringent than
Telcordia specifies. As a result vendors are able to get closer to 90% to 95% yields on
their VCSELs and photo detectors, rather than the much lower in telecom.”
 Intel has also removed the traditional eye-safety requirements, which also translates into
higher yields and lower costs. The traditional telecom module is typically launched at
about 1 mW of power. But the very aggressive power management of the Light Peak
optical module features a launch power much higher than eye safety.
 Finally, Intel designed the optical module to be high-volume manufacturable thus further
20
reducing the cost of production.

22. ADVANTAGES
 The light peak optical modules are physically much smaller than those of telecom grade.
 The optical modules are designed to be much lower cost and higher performance.
 Light Peak can send and receive data at 10 billion bits per second.
 The thin optical fiber will enable Light Peak to transfer data over very thin, flexible
21
cables.
 Unlike electrical cables, Light Peak do not faces the problem of EMI, thus can be used up
to 100m.
 Light Peak also has the ability to run multiple protocols simultaneously over a single
cable, enabling the technology to connect devices such as docking stations, displays, disk
drives, and more. A simple analogy is it is like loading up many cars onto a high-speed
bullet train.
 The data transfer is bidirectional in nature thus enabling devices to transfer
simultaneously.
 Quality of service implementation
 No Operating System (OS) changes required.
 It also supports another feature known as “Hot-swapping” which means the PC needs not
be shut down and restarted to attach or remove a peripheral.
 Economies of scale from a single optical solution
 Enables I/O performance for the next generation Allows for balanced platform, with
external I/O keeping up with most platform interconnects.
 Up to 100 meters on an optical-only cable. Each fiber is only 125 microns wide, the
width of a human hair.
 Supports multiple existing I/O protocols over a single cable and smooth transition for
today’s existing electrical I/O protocols.
 Can connect to more devices with the same cable, or to combo devices such as docking
stations.

23. DEVELOPMENT STATUS
Intel is working with optical manufacturers to make “Light Peak” components ready to ship in
2010. The company’s intent is to work with the industry to determine the best way to make this
new technology a standard and available on PCs, handheld devices, consumer electronics,
workstations and more.
Fig.14: Demonstration of connection of a HDTV with a laptop
Till date, Intel has suggested that it would be providing controller chip and had collaborated with
different manufactures for various components.
22
Intel’s Light Peak suppliers include:
 Oclaro: VCSELs
 Enablence Technologies Inc.: large-area, dual-wavelength 10-Gbps photodiodes
 Avago Technologies: optical module with embedded optical engine
 SAE Magnetics: optical module
 IPtronics: driver and receiver silicon
 Ensphere Solutions Inc.: transceiver IC
 FOCI Fiber Optic Communications Inc.: connectors and cables
Initial usage models would be focusing on performance and simplification.
 Faster media transfer and creation
 Flexible design, thinner form factor and simplified cable connections.
Intel is talking to manufacturers of consumer electronics, PCs, peripherals and phones about a
Light Peak standard that will take advantage of 'the full capability' of fiber, although this could
take 'a few years' to finalize. The official process starts later this year. But momentum continues
to increase across the industry with vendors demonstrating the prototype devices.

24. CONCLUSION
Light Peak is a high-speed, multi-protocol interconnect for innovative and emerging client usage
models, that complements other existing interconnects
Light Peak is the name for a new high-speed optical cable technology designed to connect
electronic devices to each other. Light Peak delivers high bandwidth starting at 10Gb/s with the
potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade. At 10Gb/s, we can transfer a full-length
Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds. Light peak allows for smaller connectors and
longer, thinner, and more flexible cables than currently possible. Light Peak also has the ability
to run multiple protocols simultaneously over a single cable, enabling the technology to connect
devices such as peripherals, displays, disk drives, docking stations, and more.
Intel is working with the optical component manufacturers to make Light Peak components
ready to ship in 2010, and will work with the industry to determine the best way to make this
new technology a standard to accelerate its adoption on a plethora of devices including PCs,
handheld devices, workstations, consumer electronic devices and more. Light Peak is
complementary to existing I/O technologies, as it enables them to run together on a single cable
at higher speeds.
At the present time, Intel has conducted three successful public demonstrations of the Light Peak
technology and confirmed that the first Light Peak-enabled PCs should begin shipping next year.
The goal of this new developing technology is to build a high-bandwidth, fault-resilient, low-cost
network that can deliver performance isolation across applications. The basic approach to
achieve this target is to integrate low-radix switches into server platform and interconnect severs
directly using multipath topologies.
Thus if the question WHY LIGHT PEAK?? arises, then the answer would be because it is
cheaper as it incorporates cheaper switching components, provide better bandwidth allocation
and performance isolation, uses flexible topologies, integrate multiple protocol devices on to one
cable.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini called Light Peak “the I/O performance and connection for the next
generation,” and confirmed that both Nokia and Sony have publicly announced their support.
Victor Krutul, director of Intel’s optical development team and founder of the Light Peak
program, is even more effusive, calling Light Peak “the biggest thing to happen to the optical
industry ever, or at least since the creation of the laser.”
23

25. 24
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