Optoelectronic interconnection technology in the HOLMS system

The High-Speed Optoelectronic Memory Systems (HOLMS) project, sponsored by the European Union Information Society Technology program, aims to make the use of board level optical interconnection in information systems practical and economical by developing optoelectronic packaging technology compatible with standard electronic assembly processes. To demonstrate the potential of the technology, we develop a demonstrator system that addresses the most pressing problem of contemporary computer architecture, memory latency. This paper describes the key ideas and some preliminary results of the HOLMS projects focusing on electronic interconnection technology, in particular optoelectronic packaging issues.