Tiny waveguides in cable form. Cute.

Very clever stuff. I wonder how their power consumption compares to copper with a retimer.

For a moment I thought this was actual co-ax, which would be supremely ironic (it was used in the early days of Ethernet, but twisted pair proved cheaper). But it looks like neither candidate has a conductive core, although they do have the conductive shell.

It’s sorta funny to see one of the companies aiming for terahertz frequencies - long wave IR is only ~30THz.

> At 60 hertz—the mains frequency in many countries—most of the current is in the outer 8 millimeters of copper

That's a very fat copper wire!

The technology sounds interesting, but why wouldn't it have been developed previously? What's changed such that it is now deployable versus a decade or two ago?

>"Later this year, Point2 will begin manufacturing the chips behind a 1.6-terabit-per-second cable consisting of eight slender polymer waveguides, each capable of carrying 448 gigabits per second using two frequencies, 90 gigahertz and 225 GHz. At each end of the waveguide are plug-in modules that turn electronic bits into modulated radio waves and back again. AttoTude is planning essentially the same thing, but at terahertz frequencies and with a different kind of svelte, flexible cable.

Both companies say their technologies can easily outdo copper in reach—spanning 10 to 20 meters without significant loss"

This is absolutely fascinating! For the longest time, I thought that optical fibers were the future, but waveguides (of whatever material appropriate) at whatever frequenc(y|ies) appropriate could give optical fibers a run (get it, a "run"? :-) ) for the money!

If we think about it, both fiber and copper cables are both very specific cases of a more broader

waveguide (first) principle...

That is, in theory you could make something that looks like a wire or cable out of any material(s) -- and if the material(s) and apertures and frequencies are correct, then you've created a transmission of path for data from point A to point B...

So, kudos to Point2, AttoTude (and other future companies!) that go down this technological tract! You're increasing both human knowledge (and data rates!) -- which could never be a bad thing!