I happened to be reading this article from Compound Semiconductor that Dr. Taylor wrote at the end of July of this year and came across interesting thoughts.

http://www.compoundsemiconductor.net/article/94567-gaas-the-logical-successor-to-cmos.html

He says:

"Despite this setback, the silicon industry is continuing its quest for a technology that will enable optical functions on the chip. This will have to be an alternative to CMOS technology, but one that is as similar to it as possible. Such a technology will prove essential as data rates migrate to 40 Gbit/s,

100 Gbit/s and then 400 Gbit/s, speeds that make the cost of packaging unmanageable. An additional requirement is that the IC will have to incorporate optical emitters and detectors. Attempts to develop such a platform that enables this transition from CMOS to optics are on-going, since no-one has yet to claim success."

So it appears Intel may have hit the 40 Gbit/s (they claim 50 or 12.5 gbit/s per laser x4) Looks like Dr. Taylor hit it on the money, of all people ofcourse Intel. He knew someone would develope Optics on Silicon, he knew it wasnt going to perform. So he developed the solution. After thinking about it, any market that intel can possibly divert or create would simply make it easier for a company like Poet to gain acceptance. The article from Intel confirms that Optical Interconnects are needed.