The two news items are unconnected, but collectively they point to something big on the horizon for computing in terms of speed, performance and capability.
While the industry has traditionally been marked by steady but incremental improvements, every now and then it takes a quantum leap. We appear to be on our way up these days, venturing into exciting but still uncharted territory.
The first story concerns an experiment in fibre-optics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre that set a new Internet speed record.
A team of researchers was able to transfer data at 923 megabits per second, essentially moving 6.7 gigabytes of data – twice the size of a DVD movie – from Sunnyvale, California to Amsterdam, Netherlands in just 58 seconds. To put that into perspective, that’s about 3,500 times faster than an average broadband connection, over a distance of approximately 11,000 kilometres.
Although the experiment took place on a closed connection, using experimental technologies and more than $1 million U.S. in high-tech equipment, one day the researchers believe that the technology will move down the ladder from research labs to institutions to the general public. Although it is still going to be a long time before homes will be getting transfer rates of 932 megabits per second, the technologies could result in broadband Internet speeds that are hundreds of times faster.
Another recent development that hints at a quantum leap is the imminent release of Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD’s) Opteron and Athlon series of 64-bit processors.
While AMD is still behind Intel by a year and a half, the Intel 64-bit Itanium processors were given mixed reviews by industry watchers and weren’t backwards compatible with existing chipsets. The AMD processors are getting rave reviews, however, and both Linux and Microsoft have announced operating systems to utilize this expanded 64-bit capability.
With two chip makers in the game, there’s also more incentive for both hardware and software companies to produce products that are compatible with 64-bit technology.
This is one of the most significant expansions of computer capability in two decades.
Going back to 1985, Intel released the first 32-bit processors, which far exceeded the technological specifications of the day. Even today 32-bits has remained the standard, but as the performance of computers, software and peripherals and digital technology has increased, and applications have grown in size and capability, 32-bit architecture is quickly becoming a limiting factor for some users.
It’s all about memory. Back in 1985 a computer used about one megabyte of memory, and the 32-bit processors of today can handle up to four gigabytes (4,000 megabytes) of memory. After that, there is nowhere to go.
Enter the new 64-bit architecture, which is theoretically capable of addressing up to 16 exabytes of memory. An exabyte is 1,000 petabytes, which is 1,000 terabytes, which is 1,000 gigabytes.
While most home users are just fine with four gigabytes of memory, the limit is frequently a problem for professional users, like 3D animators and scientists using computers for complex analyses.
And even some home users are hitting the wall. For example, a digital camcorder can easily record more than 4 GB of footage, but in order to view and edit that footage at home, it would have to be broken into much smaller pieces first.
For more information on the new AMD processors, which will hit stores in April, visit www.amd.com .
Smart Fridge?
LG Electronics, a high-end manufacturer of appliances, has a point – the refrigerator is the central focus of the kitchen, and the kitchen is the central room of the house. Therefore it makes perfect sense to hook your refrigerator up to the Internet. Right?
Just $8,000 American dollars buys you the new LG Internet Refrigerator, which is pretty much like a conventional refrigerator, but with a 15-inch touch screen monitor and Web camera mounted on one of the doors.
According to LG, customers can use this screen to leave video messages for family members, write grocery lists, track food use for Internet grocery shopping (you’ll never run out of pickles again), access and store nutritional information and recipes, keep track of important dates and appointments, surf the Web, shoot and e-mail digital pictures, and even watch television or listen to the radio.
In the near future, the terminal will be able to access other appliances as well, allowing you to monitor the washer and dryer, preheat the oven, and set room temperatures around the house – this makes sense because the fridge is the only appliance that’s on 24 hours a day.
Oh, and the LG Internet Fridge also makes ice cubes.
For more information, visit www.lgappliances.com .
Buying a PC?
This month’s PC World ( www.pcworld.com ) includes 52 tips for PC buyers to ensure that they get the right machine at the right price.
The tips are presented in the simplest possible terms, allowing even the most technologically backward person to walk into the computer store and sound like an expert. It explains the different terms and technology a buyer is going to encounter in the shop, what to ignore, what to demand, and different combinations of hardware to look for.
