Cheaper bandwidth

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 14 March 2007

Intel has announced the world’s fastest silicon modulator that could lead the way to computers that run faster and cooler, and to cheaper bandwidth.

The Intel ‘team has demonstrated a record-breaking silicon modulator that can encode data at a rate of 30 gigabits per second – nearly as fast as many nonsilicon modulators currently used in fiber optics hardware’ (Intel speeds up silicon photonics, Kate Greene, Intelligence Magazine, March 2007).

We don’t intend to go into all the details here, especially the technical details…

How can this advancement in technology lead to cheaper bandwidth?

This advancement could replace expensive traditional devices and in this way lead to cheaper bandwidth.

Silicon ‘…devices are easy to mass-produce and relatively inexpensive…’ (Intel speeds up silicon photonics, Kate Greene, Intelligence Magazine, March 2007). In other words, if you sit with a relatively cheap silicon modulator that can operate at great speeds, you don’t need to make use of expensive network hardware. Not having to make use of expensive network hardware means that a reduction in the cost of bandwidth must follow.

ADSL South Africa(Broadband South Africa) welcomes Intel’s continuous efforts to bring advancements in technology that could to bring down the cost of bandwidth, et cetera.