TECHNOLOGY - Feb. 27, 1992

HP, IBM Team Up for Fiber Optic Computer Technology: Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM said they will team up to make fiber optic components to speed communications between machines. The technology, which is used today mostly for long-distance telephone calls, will allow massive amounts of information and complicated graphics to be exchanged by a wide array of computers, an industry analyst said. Under the alliance, IBM will make the initial product this year, a fiber optical-link card that will be the first computer product to use the laser technology found in CD players. The companies said they entered the alliance to bring together IBM’s technologies in optical-link card manufacturing and CD laser applications with HP’s expertise in optical receivers and high-speed integrated circuits.