Now that it’s public, I can brag that a buddy of mine is knee deep in developing a new type of interconnect for server clusters. Camas, WA startup Lightfleet broke their silence today in a Wall Street Journal article that describes how the company is using lasers to create what must be a fabric-like switch to interconnect clustered microprocessors.
According to the WSJ article, the company will use Intel processors to build a new class of servers. Though pundits are weighing in on both sides of the argument – is this better than gigabit electrical interconnects? – the possibilities for (literally) quantum cluster improvements are intriguing.
But it begs the question: can Lightfleet’s technology be applied to the myriad VME fabric interconnects such as VITA 41 (VXS) or VITA 46 (VPX)?