Sumitomo Electric, the Japanese industrial conglomerate, says it has received certification from Intel to mass produce the latter’s “Thunderbolt” ultra-high-speed optical cables.

Designed to transmit data at a rate of 10 Gb/s over a distance of up to 30 meters between Thunderbolt-compatible devices – ten times further than the non-optical version - Sumitomo Electric has been sampling the cables since April 2012.

The Thunderbolt is the commercial name used for what Intel had originally called “Light Peak”, and can now be used to make a high-speed optical connection between a host computer and up to six other devices, in a “daisy chain” format.

The optical version follows the initial launch of a conventional copper-based Thunderbolt cable in 2011, and has the same 4.2 mm diameter. According to the Japanese firm, the optical fiber used is suitably robust for everyday use, even if tangled in knots and bent back on itself at 180 °.

To read more: http://optics.org/news/3/12/39