Researchers demonstrate insanely fast 225 terabit per second fiber network

Shawn Knight

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Researchers from the University of Central Florida and Eindhoven University of Technology have obliterated the world speed record for data transmission over a fiber network. Using a new type of fiber, they were able to achieve speeds of 255 terabits per second which, as I’m about to explain, is mind-boggling.

At 255 terabits per second, you’d be able to transfer a 1GB movie in 31.25 microseconds (0.03 milliseconds). Heck, an entire 1TB hard drive could be transferred in roughly 31 milliseconds.

As ExtremeTech correctly points out, the fastest single-fiber links in commercial use today top out at just 100Gbps – that’s 2,550 times slower than what the researchers were able to demonstrate. To put it into even greater perspective, 255 terabits per second is far faster than the total capacity of the hundreds of glass fiber cables lining the Atlantic Ocean.

255tbps world internet network fiber fiber network

To obtain such speeds, researchers used glass fiber with seven separate cores that were arranged in a hexagon shape. By using spatial multiplexing, they were able to achieve speeds of 5.1 terabits per carrier and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to push 50 carriers down the cores. All said and done, it equaled the magic 255 terabits per second.

Given the current infrastructure already in place and the fact that we’d need to lay millions of miles of new cabling, it’s a safe bet to suggest we won’t see this technology implemented any time soon. The takeaway, however, is that it is possible and as the Internet continues to grow, this is at least one solution that could handle the additional bandwidth.

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Yeah, but get comcast or att to put that in.

They would never do it. They will nickel and dime you into the next century before allowing people to have that kinda bandwidth. Not to mention nobody at home can use that kinda speed and we don't have storage devices that can write at that speed.
 
Always don't get this, possibly I'm OCD or something. Why is it insanely fast? Because you'd have to be crazy to use it, think about it or post about it? It seems quite sane to me, just very much faster than what we have seen before.

'Insanely fast' is a description you could ascribe to someone's driving, as in 'they would have to be insane to do that, it is so dangerous', but I can't see how it is applicable to data transfer; no matter how fast that is, I can't see anyone being in any danger or at risk of losing their minds.
 
Always don't get this, possibly I'm OCD or something. Why is it insanely fast? Because you'd have to be crazy to use it, think about it or post about it? It seems quite sane to me, just very much faster than what we have seen before.

'Insanely fast' is a description you could ascribe to someone's driving, as in 'they would have to be insane to do that, it is so dangerous', but I can't see how it is applicable to data transfer; no matter how fast that is, I can't see anyone being in any danger or at risk of losing their minds.

Have you ever seen what happens to a packet that gets lost at those speeds? If one of those things ever got out... My god...
 
College nerd: "I found a way to download porn 1 million times faster"

Marge: "Who would need that much porn?"

Homer: "Mmmhhhhh.... 1 million times faster...."
 
I find it funny when I see advancements in internet technology. Because you know Time Warner and other big Internet companys in the US will never invest in it were they don't compete with other companys who offer it. Maybe I will one day have an internet speed from Time Warner that is over 20mbps. Hopefully before I turn a thousand years old.
 
Hi from NZ... or Middle Earth... or Hobbiton-Central {pulls out bow and arrow and shoots a few Orcs off the back fence ... (sigh) .. usual day}

Artistic license here:

First comment:
"As ExtremeTech correctly points out, the fastest single-fiber links in commercial use today top out at just 100Gbps".

Second comment:
"By using spatial multiplexing, they were able to achieve speeds of 5.1 terabits per carrier and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to push 50 carriers down the cores. All said and done, it equaled the magic 255 terabits per second."

He-llo!!! .. google LHCONE for some relevant detail.

Btw, coherent lasers can now push at 100G. WDM color count = ~88. That makes 8.8 TB per fibre one way, so 4.4TB per fibre/pair (need TX and RX funnily enough).
Usual fiber bundle cross the ocean floor is, as the text reads, "hundreds". Lets go for 100 as an example.

Doing the math dance: 100/2 = 50 pairs. 50 Pairs at 4.4TB each is 220TB. Not far off the 255. Not that you'd really notice though.

However, all power to the arm on more clever technical ways to wring more blood out of a techie Rosetta Stone: as with all science, we have yet to realize or discover more innovative ways to leverage current materials.

Also, be aware that the next tech uplift is 400G in hardware planning, with 1Tb on the conceptual drawing board. 1TB @88 colors? ... 100 bundle now equals 2.2Pb/s. Adding the 3D spatial makes your head spin.

The game changer here is not the point to point over the fibre: it's the peering points. Be also aware that GLIF and GOLE initiatives are afoot to develop technologies that push the optic/silicon/optic transit delay at peering points further in to the optics... this is a real game-changer... your leaden-foot ISPs will have no choice but to get with the program or suffer having to offer Model-T performance against a Ferrari that has the robustness of a Hummer....

FYI: We had a REANNZ conference here in Queenstown NZ earlier this month, with a dedicated 100G lambda (colour) across the Pacific to San Diego, and another one SD to Chicago. The demo was 9* large 4k vid-conf screen-walls in all 3 locations to showcase a tele-medicine analysis - physicians in Chicago and New Zealand, concurrently analysing a patient in SD with a skin melanoma issue ... the instant zoom-in to the affected skin area almost caused the local audience to lose their lunch (hilarity ensued... it really cracked me up).. this really showed the capability of using those fibres in a more intelligent way.

The next step is to help develop the SDN overlay for GLIF/GOLE in the commercial sense... those who lag or try to profit-gouge their customer base will not last long.
 
Always don't get this, possibly I'm OCD or something. Why is it insanely fast? Because you'd have to be crazy to use it, think about it or post about it? It seems quite sane to me, just very much faster than what we have seen before.

'Insanely fast' is a description you could ascribe to someone's driving, as in 'they would have to be insane to do that, it is so dangerous', but I can't see how it is applicable to data transfer; no matter how fast that is, I can't see anyone being in any danger or at risk of losing their minds.
It's just a figure of speech. Like many figures of speech it is not meant to be taken literally to the last word. But, of course, you know that already, right?
 
Well, that speed isn't for one user or 100 users. That cable can be a nice replacement for those many cables under the Atlantic Ocean. It would reduce the need to place more or them to sustain the speed of some countries.
 
Yeah, but get comcast or att to put that in.

They would never do it. They will nickel and dime you into the next century before allowing people to have that kinda bandwidth. Not to mention nobody at home can use that kinda speed and we don't have storage devices that can write at that speed.
Research always leads practice by a considerable margin. This sort of tech will be used eventually.
 
Traders will want this connection to the Stock Exchange. Getting information even milliseconds ahead of the others allows their computers to make trades that can 'make' them money.
 
Traders will want this connection to the Stock Exchange. Getting information even milliseconds ahead of the others allows their computers to make trades that can 'make' them money.
they don't really need more bandwidth, they need better latency. they aren't downloading GBs in huge chunks. they have a lot of very small network requests.
 
I only pay $44 for 50 mbps down and 10 mbps from Comcast that's all I get from them. Nothing more. No tax on that either because I am not getting CATV, or Digital Phone service. They told me for $89 a month I could get 500 mbps down but I know that's a typo.
 
This is all well and good, but how fast was the data sent? The article doesn't mention speed, it only talks about bandwidth.
 
This is the problem with technology in terms of infrastructure: new improvements take years to implement. I won't be surprised if Verizon jumps on this and implements it soon but even that will it take forever.
 
I squealed when I saw this, and then I remembered I live in the U.S. and wept quietly.
 
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