Intel is dreaming about speeding lately. After launching its 10Gbps Thunderbolt interconnect, which debuted in the new MacBook Pro, the chipzilla is now hungering for more. The researchers in Intel have already started working on something that is five times faster than Thunderbolt. Might not sound a lot, but that’s 50Gbps speed for your new-age USB dude. They’re promising a new interconnect, ready in four years, that will combine silicon and optical components (a technology called silicon photonics) to pump 50Gbps over distances of up to 100m. That’s the sort of speed Intel predicts will be necessary to handle, say, ultra-HD 4k video being streamed between smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes and TVs. Hopefully Thunderbolt will be able to serve us nicely before it gets sent into retirement in 5 years’ time.

SOURCE via PC World