Recent advances in material fabrication techniques, analytic tools and computational power have greatly enhanced the prospect of making electrons and photons work, respectively, in their best roles. 1012bit/s operating speed might be reached. Two basic research questions arise: (i) what are the configurational, physical, and material constraints which prevent devices from operating at this speed, and can these constraints be altered? (ii) If 1012bit/s can indeed be reached, what system functional building blocks should be generated? Research directions in this area are suggested.