Alacron watches Thunderbolt vs. Camera Link and GigE for the Integration of Laptop Fraamegrabbers in Machine Vision Technology

The world of computer technology is continuously changing, as what is new today is likely to be out of date by the end of the week. Rapid obsolescence is at its most evident in the manufacturing world, where the only way to stay ahead of the competition is to continually invest in the very latest technology as soon as it becomes available. Alacron has been carefully studying Intel's latest Thunderbolt technology as it might influence alacron's PCI express card frame grabber

The PCI express card frame grabber from Alacronhas been designed to work with the latest computer motherboards using 2 or more PCI express slots in place of the older AGP or PC slots. This new design was necessary, as PCI express technology was developed to allow for the flow of video signals at much faster speeds than before, allowing the production lines to flow faster and the robotic systems to operate more efficiently.  Intel's newest technology, Thunderbolt, may prove to be worthy of new R&D efforts on the part of Alacron.  Developed by Intel (under the code name Light Peak), and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple. Thunderbolt™ technology is a new, high-speed I/O technology.  For framegrabbers it could act as a receiver for the framegrabber or computer. While it remains an emerging technology for commercial machine venor manufacturers Dr. Sgro regards it as potentially superior to such existing Interfaces as CoExpress, Camera Link 1 and GigE.  Camera Link 2.