IBM Green Optical Link

From Techpin:
The new IBM Green Optical Link energy efficient prototype unveiled this week involves sending high definition data using light instead of standard wires and is capable of transmitting 8 million bps equaling 5,000 HD video streams and this is done using one 100 Watt light bulb.

Those that would benefit from this innovation are users that share HD videos and doctors that need to send HD medical videos to specialists in order to receive diagnoses.
It is an optical technology based on optical chips and optical data buses in a single unit with traditional components, that would save enormous amounts of power in supercomputers as for a standard 100 meter link the optical transfers consume 100 times less power saving 10 times over current commercial optical modules.

"Last year we unveiled an optical transceiver chip-set that could transmit a high-definition movie in under a second using highly customized optical components and processes" declared IBM Researcher Clint Schow, part of the team that built the prototype. "Just a year later, we’ve now connected those high speed chips through printed circuit boards with dense integrated optical ’wiring.’ Now we have built an even faster transceiver and have moved the optical components away from custom devices to more standard parts procured from a volume manufacturer, taking an important step toward commercializing the technology."