Introduction

Computers, as we know today, will be just be one component of an intellectual power grid in which computation and storage will become commodities traded over optical fiber "power lines." Success will hinge on the successful integration of computers, communications, and their associated technologies—electronics and photonics at both a macro and micro level.

At the micro level, the parallelism of optics is the most important factor. Architecturally, this connectivity can be used to transparently extend the name space and simplify the coordination of thousands of microprocessors into a unified micro-distributed computer. The goal is a thousand interconnections, each at one gigabit per second.

At the macro level, the bandwidth of optics is the most important parameter. Architecturally, this connectivity can be used to transparently extend the name space and simplify the coordination of thousands of computers into a unified macro-distributed computer. Our goal is one connection at a terabit per second.