Intel this week introduced the latest enhancement to its Thunderbolt 2 technology, Thunderbolt Networking, a means for directly connecting computers with a standard Thunderbolt cable.

The chip giant is showcasing Thunderbolt Networking at the National Association of Broadcasters show. At last year's NAB, Intel unveiled Thunderbolt 2, the second generation of the hardware interface for connecting peripherals to computers, which debuted with Apple's 2011 MacBook Pro.

Thunderbolt Networking works by "emulating an Ethernet connection environment" to deliver 10GbE throughput between linked computers, Intel's Dan Snyder said in a blog post. Support for the technology is already built into Apple's OS X Mavericks operating system and a PC driver for connecting PCs to PCs and PCs to Macs "will soon be available," he said.

Intel is billing Thunderbolt Networking as a boon to media professionals using Mac and PC workstations, "adding a new level of workflow flexibility" as well as providing lightning-fast backup and upgrade capabilities across computers.

Intel Thunderbolt Networking/Credit: Intel

"Thunderbolt 2 has fundamentally changed both our production and post workflows, while allowing us to perform the most data intensive tasks currently required for 4K production, in an efficient, simple schema without sacrifice to the image or the crew," Gary Adcock, a digital imaging technician for the USA Network television series Sirens, said in a testimonial. "For today's video professional, the move to 4K production environments creates data management problems that only Thunderbolt 2 can solve."

In addition to the debut of Thunderbolt Networking, the original purpose of Thunderboltlinking Macs and PCs to peripheralsis being utilized by a growing number of computer and device makers, Intel said.

Among the Thunderbolt 2-enabled products being showcased at NAB are the 2013 Apple Mac Pro, Z Workstation systems from Hewlett-Packard, AJA's CION camera, and external storage drives from LaCie, Western Digital, and Promise Technologies, as well as products from AkiTio, ATTO, Cubix, G-Technology (HGST), HighPoint, Magma, mLogic, Maxx Digital, OWC, and Sonnet, Intel said.

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