Internet 2 hits 100Gbps broadband speed, potential to increase 10 times more

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With a dedicated 10Gbps fiber optic link, it is conceivable now to send files at that speed from one corner of the country to another. With ten 10Gbps fiber optic links in each network, will create a total of 100Gbps bandwidth.

The current Internet cannot handle large video and data files and also speed is a big problem. With the service provided by Internet2, the speed of 100Gbps became a reality and the company speculates even higher speeds are possible.

This new main network is IP-based that follows Internet Protocols and connects more than 200 universities along with government and industrial facilities. The service will go operation in January 2008, but is already operational.

In a demonstration today for the public, Dr. Carl Lundstedt, University of Nebraska-Lincoln set up a connection between his school and the Fermilab research park in Batavia, Illinois (shown in the picture above). He then transferred one-third of a terabyte (1 million Megabytes = 1 Terabyte) of data between two places and it took 5 minutes. With existing internet connections it would have taken 92 hours (at 1 Megabyte per second data transfer).

Rick Summerhill, CTO for Internet2, says the speeds will be vital in the future and said:

Just like you switch on a light or turn on a water tap, we envision a future where researchers, scientists, faculty, artists, etc. will be able to 'turn on' a high capacity network connection when and where they need it".

University researchers requiring this high speed service at a cost can contact Internet2’s WaveCo Service. They can get speeds from 50Mbps to 10Gbps.
The only question is when we will get such high speeds at home. The current telecommunications companies, are not doing much to work on high speeds, since most are happy with the profits from current speeds, they are not spending enough for the future. The current speeds are terrible, nothing to be proud off, while other countries have higher broadband speeds.