- Image via CrunchBase
For many techies that have closely followed the physical advancements of technology, the announcement of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics may not have been much of a shock. Two physicists won for their creation of the material graphene–essentially a layer of carbon that is only one atom thick, yet is extraordinarily strong and highly conductive of electricity. Electrons can fly across it at blazing speeds. The future potential of this material is immense. Graphene will change the entire landscape of computing infrastructure. It will change how users interact with their computers, and how they access and send information.
Graphene is a major candidate to replace silicon in communication devices in the near future. This will have a big effect on computing infrastructure that relies on those devices, but for the better. Electrons travel through graphene much faster than silicon making everything from hubs to servers faster and more powerful. IBM is already on the case having created a graphene-based transistor. They are sure to find their way in many components of computing infrastructure.
Farther down the line will be the end point of computing infrastructure, the personal computer. Researchers foresee the advent of "spin computers" that utilize the spin state of electrons. Graphene presents the best platform tapping into the spin state of electrons, which will increase the computer’s ability to store and process much more information at much faster rates, all while using less energy and creating less heat. But first, computer chips will most likely be transformed with graphene–again by replacing silicon–becoming even smaller, but faster and more powerful.
All of these advancements will converge in the way users interact with the Internet. The Internet can only be as powerful as the devices that run it and with so many applications bring run via internet like online shopping, online banking, and onlineeducation.com, power is key. And with graphene, things are going to get very interesting. The amounts of information users can send over the Internet will be nearly endless. Software will become more powerful, converging apps of all kinds.
