Speed of light computing!

This is interesting:

A silicon microchip that generates laser beams has been developed by researchers at Intel and the University of California, Santa Barbara, both in the US.The hybrid silicon-laser chip could transfer data between computer components much more quickly by using optical fibres rather than ordinary computer wires, its developers say.Although the chip is several years away from commercialisation, it could kick-start a revolution in computing and communications, by cutting hardware costs and even leading to completely new architectures, the researchers claim. Laser-making chip promises data transfer boost - tech - 18 September 2006 - New Scientist Tech

Yeeh-haw! I can't wait for this to trickle down to commercial applications.

technorati tags:computer, new-technology, lasers, faster-computers