Intel Announces Thunderbolt Share, a PC-to-PC High-bandwidth Networking Technology

[btarunr]

Today, Intel announced Thunderbolt Share, a new software solution enabling PC-to-PC experiences that fundamentally change the way users interact with two PCs. Thunderbolt Share is offered with select PCs and accessories with Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5 ports, enabling responsive screen-sharing and fast PC-to-PC file transfers for more flexible and productive workflows.

"We are excited to continue to lead the industry in connectivity solutions with Thunderbolt technology. Thunderbolt Share delivers on our aspiration to bring innovative solutions to the market and deliver new experiences for users to get the most out of their PCs. Now users can seamlessly access one PC from another at Thunderbolt technology speeds. It truly changes how users can be more productive and efficient," said Jason Ziller, Intel vice president and general manager of the Client Connectivity Division.



Thunderbolt Share, powered by the unique Thunderbolt networking capability, enables users to interact with two PCs simply and efficiently - a solution that benefits users of multiple PCs.

Creators and gamers will enjoy improved productivity with multi-PC workflows and easy collaboration between colleagues, and they will be able to share preferred peripherals. Consumers and business professionals will enjoy better ergonomics with shared monitors, and they will be able to maximize workspaces using multiple PCs. Thunderbolt technology has the bandwidth and low latency to deliver these capabilities with the quality and experience that users demand.

Compatible with Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5 PCs running the Windows operating system, Thunderbolt Share utilizes the high bandwidth and low latency of Thunderbolt technology to provide:

• Smooth uncompressed screen-sharing with ultra-responsive mouse and keyboard control between PCs - powering a seamless visual experience.
• Fast file transfers between two PCs with simple drag and drop, folder synchronization, and easy file migration from an old PC to a new PC.
• Easy collaboration between users sharing large files.
• Support via a direct connection between PCs or through a Thunderbolt accessory with multiple ports such as a Thunderbolt dock or monitor.
• Private and secure connection that doesn't affect Wi-Fi, Ethernet or cloud network performance.

Thunderbolt technology is globally recognized as one of the best wired connectivity solution for PCs and accessories. Thunderbolt technology has quickly become a ubiquitous feature in the PC market, found in hundreds of millions of computers and accessories today, including all Intel Evo Edition laptops and Intel vPro laptops.

With Thunderbolt Share, PC users can further expand the connectivity experiences that Thunderbolt-certified products are designed to offer.

The complete Intel Thunderbolt Share press-deck follows.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Selaya]

malwareshare, nice

for 99.999% of all users & usecases ethernet will be far more than sufficient.

 

[skizzo]

looks interesting to me!

 

[LabRat 891]

Lame, that this is stuck with proprietary Thunderbolt.- Been looking for(ward to) this kind of tech for decades.
IIRC, USB3.0 has/had a spec for connecting 2 'hosts' together; it's pretty much entirely depreciated (AFAIK)

I'm extremely doubtful Intel would let anyone wrap this into TB3/USB4.

 

[Nanochip]

Seems cool but for my use case, a kvm is a better solution given that this solution requires two windows PCs. What if one computer is running Linux/macos and the other is running windows. This software won’t work for that use case.

 

[john_]

Is this like Firewire (1394) PC2PC connection, 25 years later?

 

[Battler624]

This is what I've been looking for really if it comes to MacOS, I want to control a macmini without leaving the comfort of my own windows OS and this would provide all the benefits without any of the downsides.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Hasn't Thunderbolt always had "Ethernet over Thunderbolt" capabilities? I don't know exactly what it's called, but it's been possible to network computers just using Thunderbolt, so this just appears to be a software layer and a UI on top of that.

Edit: Indeed it has. The PDF below is from the end of 2014.

https://www.thunderbolttechnology.net/sites/default/files/Thunderbolt%E2%84%A2%20Networking%20Bridging%20and%20Routing%20Instructional%20White%20Paper.pdf

 

[kondamin]

Hardware version of mouse without borders/synergy at 80gbps

Would be nice if it allowed you to say drag and drop a running program to an other machine to finish a render or someting

 

[ArcanisGK507]

Look like:

Samsung Smart Switch​

 

[Random_User]

malwareshare, nice

for 99.999% of all users & usecases ethernet will be far more than sufficient.

Indeed. To much hassle for an expensive proprietary tech. Maybe for some local cluster computing, but...there's Oculink...

The external dGPU/s though, do really benefit from it.

 

[HOkay]

What! The poll results so far (only 65 users but still) is 75% of people haven't used Thunderbolt?! Do you people not have laptops & docks, or eGPUs for your handhelds?

 

[Wirko]

Would be nice if it allowed you to say drag and drop a running program to an other machine to finish a render or someting

If you can wait a little bit more, CXL 3.1 is planned to support memory sharing with coherency, so you won't even have to drag and drop anything. (You'll need a Granite Rapids desktop/notebook though.)

 

[SAINT ENZO]

Can you drag and drop files from one windows 11 pc to another windows 11 PC natively via ethernet?

 

[lemonadesoda]

Anyone remember laplink cables?

 

[Eternit]

Is this like Firewire (1394) PC2PC connection, 25 years later?

Exactly. I used Firewire to connect PCs 25 years ago it was faster than 100Mbps LAN. Then 1Gbps LAN got cheap and it was enough for copy between HDDs. But now we have NVMe SSDs and 10Gbps LAN is very expensive. So it is a great idea.

 

[Wirko]

Exactly. I used Firewire to connect PCs 25 years ago it was faster than 100Mbps LAN. Then 1Gbps LAN got cheap and it was enough for copy between HDDs. But now we have NVMe SSDs and 10Gbps LAN is very expensive. So it is a great idea.

No matter what sort of better wires they invent, never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with backup tapes.

Anyone remember laplink cables?

LapLink remembers. --> https://web.laplink.com/cables/

 

[kondamin]

What! The poll results so far (only 65 users but still) is 75% of people haven't used Thunderbolt?! Do you people not have laptops & docks, or eGPUs for your handhelds?

Sure, i Have a couple of devices that support thunderbolt and I even use the port as its now usbc and does everything usb. I’m not how ever and as far as I can remember never used thunderbolt for anything in its specialised at.

once I was a bit bummed out I didn’t have thunderbolt cable to usb c when migrating a Mac but that’s about it

thunderbolt = Betamax

 

[khogan111]

Wow. What an innovative idea requiring unique hardware and software technologies and cables !!!

Maybe my Laplink your serial connection cables will work too ?

For God’s sake, who would need to share screens between computers that are connected to each other over a 1 meter cable ???? You can just turn your head to the other computer’s screen and gaze over.

 

[kondamin]

Wow. What an innovative idea requiring unique hardware and software technologies and cables !!!

Maybe my Laplink your serial connection cables will work too ?

For God’s sake, who would need to share screens between computers that are connected to each other over a 1 meter cable ???? You can just turn your head to the other computer’s screen and gaze over.

Shared clipboard is very handy

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

Beautiful slides, nasty products (in the past few years).

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Exciting stuff, would be really neat to see some thunderbolt NAS units. Ethernet is just too slow these days for mass backups, especially with flash memory.

 

[Octavean]

You need Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt Share in your life,.....!!!!

Not really,.... Not even a little,....

If Intel really cared they should have made Thunderbolt as ubiquitous as USB. But they didn't so meh!

 

[Lianna]

Beautiful slides, nasty products (in the past few years).

Slide 6:

Where did they get this southpaw camera?

 

[Scrizz]

For God’s sake, who would need to share screens between computers that are connected to each other over a 1 meter cable ???? You can just turn your head to the other computer’s screen and gaze over.

Maybe someone doesn't have room for another monitor, or the other machine is rarely accessed locally..
I'm not saying this is some crazy new novel ideal, but I'm not against additional functionality for existing technology.