Optical technologies are ubiquitous in telecommunications networks and systems, providing multiple wave-length channels of transport at 2.5-10 Gbps data rates over single fiber-optic cables. Market pressures continue to drive the number of wavelength channels per fiber and the data rate per channel. This trend will continue for many years to come as e-commerce grows and enterprises demand higher and reliable band-width over long distances. E-commerce, in turn, is driving the growth curves for single processor and multi-processor performance in database transaction and web-based servers. Ironically, the insatiable taste for enterprise network bandwidth, which has driven up the volume and pushed down the price of optical components for telecommunications, is simultaneously stressing computer system bandwidth--increasing the need for new interconnection schemes--and providing for the first time commercial opportunities for optical components in computer systems.

This paper will center primarily on the use of optical interconnects within commercial digital computing systems, particularly workstations and servers, and will address mainly board-to-board interconnects within a single cabinet or box. We feel this is the most likely utilization of optics in commercial computer systems for the next decade. We will also provide a practical analysis of inter- and intra-chip optical interconnects and the difficulties they face in real systems.

Keywords: vertical cavity laser, microprocessor, optical interconnect, free-space interconnect