High speed Thunderbolt connectivity to be seen in 2012, according to Intel

Intel is hoping to demonstrate their Thunderbolt technology this year, with the arrival of numerous compatible products.

The Thunderbolt technology, developed by Intel and supported by Apple, offers some interesting perspectives in terms of speed with theoretic speeds of up 10 Gbit/s. This should help facilitate the movement of large files and high definition video streams.

Despite such promises, the technology is having difficulties gaining support with it only being present in Apple products and a limited number of other devices built by LaCie, Seagate and Western Digital. This is notably due to its high integration price when compared to the USB 3.0 standard.

Intel still believes in their product though, with the Thunderbolt technology to be seen this year. According to the company, around 100 compatible products should be launched this year, allowing this connectivity option to become more credible. This is without even counting on future ultrabooks, which will integrate the technology.

The competing high speed Lightning Bolt technology which is currently being developed by AMD shouldn’t be forgotten though, with it promising to be cheaper and easier to integrate although giving up some of the speed compared to Intel’s product.

 
One of the Thunderbolt solutions proposed by Western Digital (click to enlarge)