Sumitomo Electric (News - Alert), a Japanese electronics company, announced today it plans to introduce samples of a new line of cables featuring Intel’s (News - Alert) Thunderbolt technology at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) event held in Las Vegas this week.

The new PC cables allow for high speed 10 gigabit per second data transfers between the computer and its peripherals. It’s DisplayPort and PCI (News - Alert) Express compatible for added flexibility when connecting various types of computer hardware and devices.

Sumitomo launched its Thunderbolt cable line last September. It’s based on the specs developed by Intel, which utilizes fiber optic cable for maximum data transfer speeds and long-distance installs.

Jason Ziller, Intel's Thunderbolt marketing director, stated in a press release, “Thunderbolt technology is a groundbreaking new high-speed interconnect technology providing 10 Gbps connectivity to the PC. We are very excited to have Sumitomo optical Thunderbolt cable sampling in the market to provide much longer cable lengths to the users that need them, such as media creators.”

Sumitomo’s Thunderbird cable comes in lengths up to 20 m. Its exceptionally thin at 4.2 mm in diameter, and offers high pliability of up to 180 degrees, so the cable can be bent and fed through tight spaces.

Intel’s Thunderbolt cable technology allows for bi-directional transfers of up to 20 Gbps. Intel states it’s capable of transferring a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds and a year’s worth of MP3 downloads in about 10 minutes.

Other cable manufacturers have launched Thunderbolt cable products in recent months as well, including Apple (News - Alert), LaCie and Promise Technology. Apple’s current lineup of Macs support Thunderbird connectivity, and Acer (News - Alert) and Asus plan to launch Windows-based computers in 2012 that offer the Thunderbird optical connection as well.