The device described below is a concept. It has not been fabricated.

IPR The Inference Processor is a device that transfers data through a nexus that is linked to others by a fibre-optic chain and by satellite. The processor is a switch that handles data as light emitted by junctions positioned on the interior side of the device. The processor is a cold vacuum tube with low power requirements. It is designed for exterior use and requires no maintenance.

CONCEPT A six-envelope vacuum tube. NEWvistor (Nv) envelopes containing electron emitters and photonic detectors carry intelligence signal over an electron stream. The Nvs are capable of deflecting the electron stream to any other Nv device, and are designed to transceive. In maturity, the design would have 48,000 Nv envelopes operating in concert. In the diagram, electron streams from the four visible Nvs are converging on a fifth, located at the center of the image, in the posterior position. A sixth device would be positioned on the anterior side of the sphere. Nvs can switch at electronic speed from one recipient to another, allowing rapid routing.

THE NEWvistor is a complex vacuum tube that most closely resembles the electron gun in a cathode ray tube. The NEWvistor contains two elements that effect its function as a transceiver; the electron gun assembly, and the photonic detector. The electron gun assembly is composed of three elements that supply an electron stream that will be received by the photonic detector of a downstream Nv. The photonic detector receives an electron matter stream from an upstream Nv. The detector is prepared to receive a continuous composite signal that may have as its source any number of distinct signals emitted by upstream Nvs.