14 DAY TRIAL // Right now, when it comes to transferring data between computers, the limitations are on the side of the network, not the storage devices. Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark, however, have created a network technology that will make today's 500 MB/s storage devices seem pitiable and Gigabit Ethernet networking handicapped beyond help.
We've seen and written about many technologies, self-proclaimed technological advances that were pegged as the answer to this or that future problem.
Why just the other day we brought you the “holy grail” of battery power technology, called such because it doubled the charge life.
The team from the Technical University of Denmark probably didn't specifically intend to make those all too real breakthroughs come across as completely superfluous and laughable.
Alas, that is precisely what they did regardless of their intention. After all, when you're put face to face with a networking technology capable of transferring data at 43 terabits per second, there's not much you can do but stare in shock. And maybe gape. Perhaps even faint for a spell.
Let's put things into perspective. Currently, physical networks move at one Gigabit per second for consumers, even over fiber optics. The next few years will bring 10 GbE and 20 GbE.
One terabit is the equivalent of one thousand Gigabits. So, basically, the new network created and successfully tested by the Technical University of Denmark is 43 thousand times faster.
If that doesn't help you get an image of the magnitude of this achievement, the people at ExtremeTech have this analogy for you: a human blink takes between 100 and 400 milliseconds. The 43 Tb network is enough to send a 1 GB film in 0.2 milliseconds.
So yes, you will be able to transfer hundreds or thousands of films or other large-capacity files in the blink of an eye whenever the new networking tech gets put into use.
No doubt only large corporations will employ it and the technology at first, and it's unclear if the technique can be applied to the existing cross-sea and cross-ocean infrastructure that connects the Internet of the Americas to those of Eurasia. Then again, even if the hardware isn't compatible, the performance should be more than enough to prompt the upgrade or total change of those cables.
Unfortunately, the team did not say how they reached the 43 Tbps. They used a single fiber from Japanese Telecom company NTT but didn't say what protocol they used or if they invented an altogether new one (the latter is more likely).