Skip to main content

Computers that calculate data at the speed of light could arrive as early as 2020

mit researchers show off supercomputer that treats nand storage like ram supercomputer2
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Most folks know that data travels at much higher speeds and capacities over optical cables than it can over copper equivalents. A prime example is the tremendous transfer speeds available on fiber optic networks, as opposed to copper POTS (plain old telephone service) lines. We’re talking thousands, even millions more times the data.

Related: How much faster will computers with 8-core processors and DDR4 RAM be?

Recommended Videos

If you think about it, there’s no reason that the technology (or something similar) that allows us to move massive data around from Point A to Point B shouldn’t help speed up our computers too.

Related: A beginner’s guide to Tor

To that end, an English technology company dubbed Optalysys says that in January 2015, it will demonstrate a prototype optical computer that performs calculations at the speed of light. If all goes well, the company says that we will see exascale supercomputers as early as 2020.

What is an optical computer?

The term optical computing can refer to many different types of technologies. Basically, it refers to computers that use light, rather than electricity, to perform many of its tasks.

While Optalysys’ approach, which employs low-power lasers and a huge liquid crystal grid, is much different from most other competing optical-based models, the company’s results are very promising so far.

While highly complicated, the Optalysys approach projects low-power lasers onto the liquid crystal grid, which in turn initiates reactions within the grid. This generates sophisticated algorithms, accommodating thousands, even millions of calculations simultaneously. By using multiple grids, either in sequence or in parallel, you can significantly increase capacity and processing power.

In addition to providing massive computing oomph, the Optalysys’ system consumes very little power.

The company provided the following statistic to demonstrate the incredible savings in electricity: An optical computer will use roughly $3,500 worth of electricity each year, while today’s most powerful supercomputer, when running at its peak power of 34 petaflops per second, sucks juice at an annual cost of about $21 million.

What could a company do with those kinds of power savings? The truth is that very few companies (Perhaps Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and so on) require supercomputers with that kind of processing oomph. Most of us, on the other hand, would have little use for anywhere close to that kind of computing power.

Still, in addition to reducing the power bill literally by millions, optical computers should also decrease the size of supercomputers themselves drastically, thereby reducing space requirements and a slew of other expenses associated with housing humongous machines. The ability to deliver supercomputer power in a desktop-size machine opens up possibilities in all kinds of areas, including medicine, digital video and other media editing, 3D modeling, CAD—the list goes on and on.

If and when optical computers go mainstream, imagine what such a desktop machine would be capable of.

When will we see optical computers?

According to Optalysys, its optical computing technology has already met the NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4. This means that it’s ready for full-scale lab testing.

As mentioned, the company says that we’ll see a prototype by January 2015, and that it hopes to have two commercial demo systems up and running by 2017.

A big data analysis system for augmenting conventional supercomputers, and a standalone “Optical Solver” supercomputer that, a company spokesman says, should start at 9 petaflops, with it scaling up to 17.1 exaflops could arrive by 2020.

However, while the technology itself seems sound, Optalysys is just getting started. With this in mind, the 2020 time frame seems ambitious.

If all works out as planned though, the next bunch of years could see some freakishly powerful computers.

William Harrel
Former Digital Trends Contributor
William Harrel has been writing about computer technology for well over 25 years. He has authored or coauthored 20…
Presidents’ Day Dell Deals: XPS, G16, monitors and more on sale
The Dell XPS 14 open on a wooden table.

Presidents' Day is a nice three-day reprieve from work, and it's also a nice excuse to do some shopping. And Dell is certainly ready, with business laptops, monitors, and more discounted on their website and across Amazon. We've picked out our favorite deals, largely from the best Dell products out there -- and products we've personally reviewed or have hands-on experiences with. Here, we present that list to you so you can get some of the best laptop deals and monitor deals around. Remember that as these deals are coming out around the Presidents' Day holiday (though not all of them have explicit "Presidents' Day" markings) they very well might end soon, so plan your purchases accordingly.
Dell S2425HS Monitor — $110 $140 21% off

This sleek monitor with a modern look has integrated speakers, a 100Hz refresh rate, and a 4-star TÜV Rheinland eye comfort rating. The 24-inch Dell S2425HS is a great second monitor for your home office or second study. You won't find many monitor deals with a price lower than the starting price of $140 that this one sports, much less the reduced $110.

Read more
1Password vs. NordPass: which password manager is best in 2025?
1Password and NordPass reviews appear beside one another on a PC monitor.

1Password and NordPass are among the most popular and best password managers available. Both offer significant improvements over the built-in solutions you get from Microsoft, Apple, and Google, making it hard to choose between them.

I've reviewed the latest versions of 1Password and NordPass in 2025 and can share some insights into the differences and compare prices to help you discover which offers the best value for you.
Specs

Read more
This iBuyPower gaming PC with RTX 4060 is under $1,000 — for now
The iBUYPOWER Trace 7 Mesh gaming desktop on a white background.

Gaming PC deals worth buying still usually cost more than $1,000 after the discounts, but here's an offer from Best Buy that's available for a more affordable price. The iBuyPower Trace 7 Mesh, which is originally sold for $1,300, is down to just $900 following a $400 discount. We're not sure how much time is remaining before this bargain ends, so if you're interested in this gaming desktop, you need to push forward with your purchase immediately if you want to secure the savings.

Why you should buy the iBuyPower Trace 7 Mesh gaming PC
The iBuyPower Trace 7 Mesh is a relatively affordable gaming PC, but it doesn't sacrifice much in terms of performance. It runs on the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, which is in our list of the best graphics cards as our recommendation for 1080p gaming. It has 16GB of RAM, which is the best place to start for a gaming PC, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. With these components, you won't have trouble playing the best PC games, though you'll have to go with medium settings for the more demanding titles.

Read more