IBM goes green with new data saving technology

Promises massive energy savings whilst sending terabits of data

3 March 2008 12:27 GMT / By Katie Scott

IBM has gone green with a prototype technology for sending data including high-def images and movies.

The new technology uses light instead of wires to send information and could allow, for example, the transmission of 8 trillion bits (terabits) per second of information - equivalent to about 5000 high-definition video streams - using the power of a single 100-watt lightbulb.

As such, it could revolutionise the way people access, use and share information using mobile phones through to supercomputers.

In the latter, for instance, the technology could deliver power savings of 10 times over current commercial optical modules.

For home users, the technology could be used to enable widespread HD video sharing and video on-demand by dramatically increasing the bandwidth of video servers.

Web-serving sites that host videos could use the technology to access libraries with millions of high-definition movies and video clips in seconds, speeding up access for users.

There are also implication for consumer electronics market such as mobiles where the lack of wires will be an advantage over other forms of data transmission.