Hewlett-Packard Card to Let Firms Access Supercomputers

Hewlett-Packard Co. introduced a fiber-optical card Monday that promises to give businesses cheap access to high-speed supercomputer technology.

The HOLC-0266 optical-link card is the first product to result from a development and marketing alliance between Hewlett-Packard and International Business Machines Corp.

The card is designed to tap a growing need among businesses and hospitals for computerized graphics and video displays.

It allows supercomputers, workstations and personal computers to talk to each other at a high speed of 266 megabits per second by connecting the desktops’ motherboards to a fiber-optic cable up to 1.24 miles long.

High-speed computing allows for the transmission of huge amounts of information needed to compose visual images for teleconferencing and other multimedia systems.

Current high-speed interface boards use long-wave laser technology, cost several thousand dollars and are as big as the typical desktop computer’s motherboard.

By contrast, the new card costs $495 and fits in the palm of the hand. It also complies with the American National Standards Institute standard known as Fiber Channel.