May the 4th Be With You!

“Hello there!”

Any Star Wars nerd worth their weight in spice from Kessel knows who said that. Rightfully, Disney+ released a new full-length Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer. If you haven’t watched it yet, you should! It would be a lie to say that I am not geeked about this trailer and the upcoming Disney+ series.

While this may appear like a shameless blog, Samtec has a long history of appreciating Star Wars geekery. Aside from the fun, sci-fi culture is definitely associated with bleeding edge technology, or what may soon be bleed edge technology.

Samtec has lots of 112 Gbps PAM4 interconnect. Plus, Samtec technical experts and engineers are working on 224 Gbps technology right now. That sounds pretty cutting edge to me. Right?

Samtec Loves Star Wars

Samtec’s Marc Verdiell loves the combination of technology and sci-fi culture. Marc currently consults with Samtec to develop and maintain our optical products roadmap. The key piece here is the Samtec FireFly™ Micro Flyover System™. Additionally, Samtec’s recent acquisition of Ultra Communications expanded our optical capabilities.

Anyway, back to Marc Verdiell. He is a multi-talented individual. One of his hobbies is restoring classic computers, including an original Apollo Guidance Computer. Check out the following blogs for more detail:

• Restoring The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) For The 50th Anniversary Of Apollo 11 (Part 1)
• Restoring The Apollo Guidance Computer (Part 2)

Marc also has another side job. He and his tech buddies build fully functioning androids. Fortunately for us, he has recreated one of the most popular sci-fi characters of all time. Marc uses “his” R2-D2 clone for STEM outreach at several Bay-area events.

“Sci-Fi” or “Si-Fly™”

Star Wars has definitely influenced generations of fans around the world. I am sure social media is lit up with the best and worst Star Wars cosplay. Additionally, fans travel to Star Wars filming sites around the world. I would love to get to “Tatooine” sites in Tunisia, but maybe I can settle for “Mando” sites in Death Valley or Simi Valley on my next trip to California.

Countless parents have also named their children after popular Star Wars characters. Most of us probably know a “Luke”, “Rey”, “Finn” or possibly even an “Owen” (as in Owen Lars). It would be interesting to meet an “Anakin” or a “Maz”. Anything is possible, though.

It would be hard to hide the fact that Star Wars and sci-fi in general hasn’t influenced product names here at Samtec. “Si-Fly” is a pretty easy one to spot. What other ones can you think of? Thankfully, the Si-Fly Low-Profile, High-Density Cable System is one Samtec’s key 112 Gbps PAM4 interconnect solutions.

Enough rambling on such a fun topic. May the 4th Be With You!