At the CES-2012, AMD demonstrated its own Lightning Bolt interface, a high-speed interconnect meant to provide simultaneous support for multiple types of connections. Unlike Intel’s Thunderbolt, Lightning Bolt is a low-cost option that doesn’t require the former’s expensive cabling or multiple controllers.
AMD’s presentation slide shows a Lightning Bolt solution in action. The cable (we’ll take the company at its word that the multiplexer will be integrated into the laptop) runs to a dock, which can then be used to power multiple displays, play protected content, or access additional storage. The signal is carried by a modified DisplayPort cable that’s capable of providing power as well as data. Unlike Thunderbolt, Lightning Bolt uses USB 3.0 — the dock is designed to offer both multi-display support and additional USB 3.0 ports.
USB 3.0 support dock-side is the major differentiating factor here, but AMD has already stated that the interface doesn’t run at full speed, either because the multiplexer introduces a performance penalty or because the displays are allocated a certain amount of bandwidth to ensure smooth performance even during heavy transfers. Either way, customers would be buying something like USB 2.5.
Lightning Bolt claims to be a low-cost solution, but vendors already have access to HDMI, mini-DP, and USB 3.0. It’s an attempt to appeal to a niche of a niche market — content creation professionals who need more than one monitor and USB 3.0 support and who don’t want to spring for Thunderbolt hardware.
AMD hopes to have it on the market by the end of the year.
