"Within five years, we hope to connect microprocessors and memory chips right to the optochip, producing the optical analogue to the electrical multichip modules in today's big-iron machines."
At only 10 Gb/s, there are already buses available that do better than that. The good part is the small size I think. At another point they say 160 2 Gb/s links in a small package. That's the goodness.
Isn't it funny that as time marches on and certain technologies improve, that other areas become much simpler and cheaper to deal with. I can imagine that components such as this making it easier for more engineers and hobbyists getting into electronics, embedded systems, etc.. because of this.
As a kid my parents had one of those fiber optic swans you put water in and set atop a "light bulb"; this was in the early 80s or late 70s and I thought at the time (being a geek and familiar with RF) that this fiber optic technology is going to have long reaching ramifications in a good way...
I'm excited..
I found it fascinating and shows the development from first concept through research phases to practical/commercial uses. It's a few years old now, but should be good for a lot of information anyway.
Easier ??? If anything it will make it unbelievably much harder, just like VLSI chips are harder to interface to for hobby purposes than TTL and soldering SMD is an art, but 1/10th" pitch can be done by anybody that isn't legally blind.
As tech has steadily advanced over the years the entry level skills required have gone up dramatically.