Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark crush all previous records with internet transfer speeds 430 times faster than current commercial technology.
Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have achieved record-breaking network speeds 5.375 terabytes per second. The speed is more than 430 times of what is currently possible on commercial networks.
DTU’s breakthrough means a one hour video in HD could be downloaded almost instantaneously, in the fraction of a second. The entire hard drive of modern-day computers could be uploaded and backed up to the cloud within a second, too, as current models offer up to 4 terabytes in storage space.
The technology marks a significant jump forward compared to the previous record of 3.25 terabytes set by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2011. DTU’s achievement is a milestone for the commercial internet as it uses a single optical fibre and one laser transmitter, the technology already in use by current providers. The highest speed currently possible on the commercial internet is a mere 0.013 terabytes per second.
The commercial consequences for the new record are still many years away, as providers are only just exploring the possibility of speeding up their infrastructure’s speeds to 0.125 terabytes per second by 2017.
A spokesperson for DTU said: “The worldwide competition in data transfer rates is helping to develop technology to meet the massive growth of data traffic on the internet. It is imperative to find solutions for the internet, where energy consumption is greatly reduced, while bandwidth is increased. DTU group has demonstrated this possibility with this latest record.”
