Faster Transfer

Faster transfer of data within and between devices can be achieved using nanotechnology. A major limitation in transfer speeds is the use of electrical wiring and contacts. The use of optical fibres revolutionised the telecommunications industry by increasing the rate of data transfer between telephone exchanges. It has also meant that new services can be implemented such as broadband internet.

Similarly, it is believed that optoelectronics can dramatically increase data transfer rates within devices such as pc's by replacing copper wiring. In the future for example, it could be possible to use quantum dot based lasers to transfer information between components within devices at the speed of light, with each piece of information 'coded' by being a unique wavelength of light.

Externally, by increasing the number of nodes in information networks, data can be transferred more rapidly between two points. This will become possible through the development of cheap ambient sensor networks based on nanotechnology.