RSSInternet2 Network to Get Speed Boost
By Ed Oswald | Published April 27, 2006, 12:45 PM
Operators of the Internet2 consortium said they will be able to boost the speed of the ultra-fast research network by as much as 80 times by the fall of next year. To accomplish this, the fiber optic lines will send data using different colors of light.
The Internet2 is a network separate from the Internet that connects some 200 colleges and universities, as well as various corporations and researchers. It currently uses fiber optic cables provided by Qwest, however the new network would have cables all to itself.
Each color, or wavelength, will be able to transmit data at a speed of 10 Gigabit per second. With 10 colors over the same wire, that allows for a maximum speed of 100 Gbps. Eventually, users of the Internet2 network would have 80 wavelengths available.
Currently, the network has a limit in theory of 10 Gbps. Researchers haven't gotten there yet due to hardware restrictions, although they recently set a new speed record of 8.8 Gbps in laboratory tests. The speed boost would mean a two-hour movie could be transferred in several seconds as opposed to a half-minute with the old network.
The reason for the upgrade is fairly straightforward. New uses of Internet2 need a faster data rate than what is currently available. For example, the second generation of the network would help a project to link together radio telescopes around the world.
0mg imagine bittorrent if everyone had this type of connection.
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|FYI: They don't use just any old HDD (or even a massive RAID array) for dealing with that kind of bandwidth.
http://www.superssd.com/.../tera-ramsan/indexb.htm
That 2,500 watt, 720lb, $1,600,000 (no, that is not a typo) goliath is the reason behind the lack of end-user availability.
Without this your computer would explode...
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|Oh my god man, you're making me drool on my desk!
I WANT that so bad! If only I had a terabit connection to abuse it with!
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|And we will never see this speed boost without greater incursions of DRM and TC.
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|Oh how wonderful. But when is this kind of speed going to come to the regular internet. The regular consumer which makes up the majority of internet users should have been first to get this super high speed stuff.
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|Internet2 is for testing new technologies, which will then trickle down to consumers in the future. Every new technology needs to start and be tested somewhere, and selling a little-tested, constantly changing service to the "regular consumer" is just not a good idea. Besides, the infrastructure for nation/worldwide distribution just isn't there, and it would cost many, many billions of dollars to extend the existing infrastructure to other ISPs and their customers. They aren't going to pay for this yet, especially for the reasons I have already mentioned.
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|u all didnt read
"Each color, or wavelength, will be able to transmit data at a speed of 10 Gigabit per second"
"users of the Internet2 network would have 80 wavelengths available"
this means 80x10 = 800Gb/s
... droooooool
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|Telus(Canada) has already had a theoretical bandwidth limit of 1.2tbps for a couple years now, by using 120 10gbit wavelengths. I gather their connections to the rest of the world bottleneck it somewhat, but apparently they're currently trying to setup a system for streaming TV-quality video to millions of people at once.
Canada only. ;)
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|"The speed boost would mean a two-hour movie could be transferred in several seconds"
Yeah, that smoke you smell? It's that fireball that used to be your computers hard-drives.
Even compressed to the point you can barely make it out it'd still be 800MB at least. Several seconds is what, 4?
That's gonna leave a mark.
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|"Yeah, that smoke you smell? It's that fireball that used to be your computers hard-drives"
Ha, ha!
I may just have to go back to college, after extensive plastic surgery of course-- the web and all those Lolitas shall be mine!!!
What was that long-ago Tom Hanks series where he dormed cross-dressed? That'll be my new makeover: i shall be a lesbian coed with many, many girlfriends. When they scream,"Eek, what is that down there!!??" i'll just soothingly respond,"Oh, don't worry honey-- my clitty's just a little bigger than yours-- that's all! Pay it no mind."
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|There's always faster storage. :)
Hell, if you had a 10GB net connection, surely you'd be doing a bit better than a standard IDE HDD? :P
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|is 100Gbps fast? I have a 9600 baud modem and it is still pretty quick.
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|Have you ever tried DSL or cable? After you tried these "faster" connections, your 9600 baud modem is extremely "slow."
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|That had to be a joke, man.
10K/sec vs 100000K/sec is a no brainer.
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|Whoa!! 9600 baud?? I've been using 1200 baud for a while and it's almost too fast. 9600 baud might just burn my eye brows off. ;)
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|Ha! i remember those days-- i would brag to the scant few friends i had that my expensive new 9600 was so much faster than even most bbs's: many sysops passed on the upgrade for some time.
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|You're not serious, are you? Talk about "slow" ;-)
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|um sounds like a piece of trash.
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|yah really, i hope so
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|I wish the U.S. had a good cellular network in place like the Europeans have. I want faster mobile net. :(
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|G/giga = billions, so yes, 100gbps or 100gbit is extremely fast.
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