Intel has announced plans to ship in 2010 an optical cable called Light Peak that will be able to transmit 10 gigabits of data per second between electronic devices such as a laptop and external hard drive.

A single Light Peak cable will also be capable of transporting different types of data simultaneously, meaning it will be possible to back up a hard drive, transfer high-definition video, and connect to a network with just one line.

Future versions of Light Peak will handle 40-gigabits-per-second and 100-gigabits-per-second transfer rates.