New Technology By IBM

By Emmanuel O.

IBM may have been going bankrupt and forced to work under a more financially stable competitor, but their name and class can’t be hidden. Not far back, IBM declared they had found and fully tested a new technique in which computers and electronics could transfer data, which would revolutionize data-sharing, and directly the P2P-sharing industry.

Data within computer systems exchange the 1s and 0s using various methods, most commonly through copper wires in cables. However, digital data can now be transferred quicker, as IBM introduces a new technique, involving transfer of data using light pulses. Light pulses allow data transfer at an increased rate, but also consumes less energy in the process. “Once the technology becomes mainstream, a consumer could download a high-definition movie in less than a second!” as informed on natural-environment.com.

IBM’s researcher Clint Schow stated that “These aren’t theoretical experiments or chips sitting in unique conditions in a lab, but rather chipsets that could hit the market in the next two years.” in order to wipe any doubt that this declaration was not announcement on a concept to hit the market in a decade or so to come, but a technology that would be available to consumers in months.
Mr. Schow went on to add that “The optical technology could just as easily be implemented in a mobile phone, as it could on a supercomputer.” ensuring a wider market base is prepared to receive this technology breakthrough.

The P2P-sharing industry is greatly affected by numerous factors. P2P abbreviating “Peer to peer”, which in a lay man’s tongue, refers to downloading applications, programs, or documents using softwares such as uTorrent, LimeWire, FrostWire, etc. This type of data-sharing will be much more favourable to internet users as faster transfer rate, promises faster online data-sharing (uploading and downloading).

Furthermore, cyberspace data transfer is much faster which allows you and others to access files within cyberspace, especially files in the form of .avi, .mkv, etc, which are common video file-formats. Additionally, this means that having these files duplicated onto your computer or electronic device is carried at a much increased rate, and within a shorter period of time.

But you may be wondering how does this involve going green. Well, it’s quite simple. You and I leave our phones, computers, laptops, and iPads  on throughout the night, in order to download that latest ‘Heroes’ episode or ‘Die hard’ movie, in order to find it done by morning. We consume over double the amount of electricity our electronics ought to consume. However, with IBM’s data transfer using light-pulses, we could exhaust everything available in cyberspace for you and I to download.

Sources:

http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pages/photonics.apd.html

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/33115.wss