Hella Zippy

Hella Zippy is Intel's code-name for a new high-speed integrated, end-to-end, silicon-based optical system. The prototype of this technology is essentially a two-chip system that can optically transmit and receive data at 50 Gbit/s or higher. A transmitter chip uses four hybrid silicon lasers running at 12.5 Gbit/s each and operating at different wavelengths. The lasers are essentially part of the silicon wafer, eliminating the need for a separate optical module, as in Light-Peak. The reason for this design is due to the ever-increasing need for transferring data at very high speeds and the only way to achieve this is to introduce Optical Technology. Copper is becoming a bottleneck at 10 Gbit/s. Silicon-based optical interconnects are also highly immune to errors. Hella Zippy is predicted to supersede Intel's own Light Peak in the coming years.