The research team at Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new type of analog optical computer that uses photons and electrons to process continuous value data instead of traditional transistors that crunch through binary ones and zeroes. Called the Analog Iterative Machine, or AIM, it “has the potential to surpass state-of-the-art digital technology and transform computing in years to come,” Microsoft suggests. AIM is made to solve difficult optimization problems bedeviling industries such as finance, logistics, transportation, energy, healthcare and manufacturing.

Traditional digital computers struggle to solve such optimization puzzles in a timely, energy-efficient and cost-effective manner.

“This is because the number of possible combinations explodes exponentially as the problem size grows, making it a massive challenge for even the most powerful digital computers,” according to research partner Hitesh Ballani in a Microsoft blog post.

In addition to transcending the limitations of specialized machines in solving optimization problems, AIM could also represent “the unraveling of Moore’s Law” as silicon-based transistors reach their limits.

Microsoft says today’s computers “struggle with the sheer volume of data some companies need to process daily, because ‘the number of possible combinations explodes exponentially as the problem size grows,’” PC Gamer writes.

The AIM computer can accomplish tasks at the speed of light. “It’s been afforded the freedom of the entire light spectrum to work through continuous value data” to solve difficult optimization problems, according to PC Gamer.

“Photons possess a remarkable property of not interacting with one another, which has underpinned the Internet era by enabling large amounts of data to be transmitted over light across vast distances,” Ballani writes, adding that photons “interact with the matter through which they propagate, allowing for linear operations such as addition and multiplication, which form the basis for optimization applications.”

AIM was created by a multidisciplinary group of researchers at the Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, UK, the company explains in an Innovation profile that points out it was originally believed the technology could be used to accelerate machine learning.

Project AIM is part of Microsoft’s Cloud Systems Futures initiative, “whereby we aim to innovate across the cloud stack by co-designing the cloud’s software and hardware infrastructure,” the company says.