Thunderbolt technology is the first iteration of the Intel’s much awaited Light Peak. Light Peak is the which is the new Input output technology which is being developed with a aim of developing a unified interface which can be used to replace many existing interface protocols like firewire, SATA, HDMI, USB etc . The Thunderbolt technology is already available in the MacBook Pro notebooks by Apple and at present no other devices `have that technology built in. Many memory storage companies like Seagate have already developed compatible products for the Thunderbolt technology and it will hit the market in the mid 2011. The Thunderbolt technology has a lot of advantages over the existing technologies.
The Thunderbolt technology by Intel offers a rapid data transfer rates with their dual Input- output technology which uses the features of both the Display port and PCI express protocols allowing it to offer peak bi directional transfer speeds ranging up to 10 GB/sec theoretically and this will be more than twice the speed offered by the recent USB 3.0 technology which has got a theoretical peak of around 4.8 GB/sec.
The thunderbolt technology makes use of the Copper wiring as transfer medium and not the optic Input output technology used in Light Peak as it won’t be possible to supply power through cable and can’t be used as a replacement of USB. Intel has managed to make both the light peak and thunderbolt reach up to 10 GB/sec and they are working on developing both the technologies to enable them reach speeds of up to 100 GB/sec. As thunderbolt is designed to make use of both PCI Express as well as display port transfer protocols, they make use of a separate port which enables them to use both the channels efficiently. This technology is going to take computing into a different level and make the computers even faster.
