An Internet 100 times as fast: A new network design could boost capacity

The heart of the Internet is a network of high-capacity optical fibers that spans continents. But while optical signals transmit information much more efficiently than electrical signals, they?re harder to control. The routers that direct traffic on the Internet typically convert optical signals to electrical ones for processing, then convert them back for transmission, a process that consumes time and energy.

In recent years, however, a group of MIT researchers led by Vincent Chan, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has demonstrated a new way of organizing optical networks that, in most cases, would eliminate this inefficient conversion process. As a result, it could make the Internet 100 or even 1,000 times faster while actually reducing the amount of energy it consumes. One of the reasons that optical data transmission is so efficient is that different wavelengths of light loaded with different information can travel over the same fiber.

But problems arise when optical signals coming from different directions reach a router at the same time. Converting them to electrical signals allows the router to store them in memory until it can get to them. The wait may be a matter of milliseconds, but there’s no cost-effective way to hold an optical signal still for even that short a time. Chan’s approach, called “flow switching,” solves this problem in a different way.

Between locations that exchange large volumes of data — say, Los Angeles and New York City — flow switching would establish a dedicated path across the network. For certain wavelengths of light, routers along that path would accept signals coming in from only one direction and send them off in only one direction. Since there’s no possibility of signals arriving from multiple directions, there’s never a need to store them in memory.

Source

This should be so much better than that Fios CRAP. Had it for a while, the switched right back to good ol' cable.

In all seriousness though, I cant even imagine what 100x the current internet speed would be like? Whats that like a minute to download a 1 Gig file?

Great times we are living in!


--GeminiSky

An Internet 100 times as fast:

That would just put 30% ahead of japan.

Its bad when we invented the internet and now there are 14 countries with faster internet service.
www.worldpoliticsreview.com...

reply to post by ANNED


No way Japan is that fast? Time to move.

japan is hogging all the service

finally this dial up crap is getting noisy and annoying

just kidding good old cable

reply to post by pavelivanov22


You were about to be flamed off this planet...then I read the last sentence LOL

Good Ol Cable RULES!!

reply to post by ANNED


That chart must be old...

My internet in Australia is running at 20mb

Im sticking with my dial up service until the manage quantum entangled networks, faster then speed of light.

J/K

So basically, what they are doing is jury rigging the wires,.. I mean fiber cables together so there is no router ?

It still has to go from that major switch station to a small one then to your house, then to your computer. so if they can give me a direct fiber to my computer to the internet and buy me a 400.00 fiber card I guess would be good.

It sounds great, but I'm betting the RIAA/MPAA will grease the right palms and suddenly there will be some lame excuse for why this technology can't be implemented.


TheAssoc.

Reply to post by GeminiSky

i envy your cable connection if its faster then fios, roadrunner slows to a crawl from around 3pm to 1am where i live.

i doubt this technology would change anything for an individual isp as its geard more to the international backbones but if you stream a lot of content from sites outside the us or vice versa there will be a big improvement from this technology. now if we could only get the isp's to invest in this for their local networks it would be awesome!


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by virgom129
reply to post by ANNED

 

That chart must be old...

My internet in Australia is running at 20mb

You may be in Melbourne but how fast are they running in many small towns out in the countryside.

they based the speed on average speeds for the whole country

That is why japan is so fast.
they do not have to go far to connect to a big city system.

There still are places in the US that can only connect via a satellite system. no cell service or grid power.

I lived in one area of Nevada that the only phone service i had was old style analog radio telephone with a large antenna on a tower.
(New Pass NV)
www.multimap.com...

The only reason we could afford the system was the US Navy installed the tower and antenna for a remote weather station for Fallon NV and let us plug into there antenna system that was using analog radio telephone to send there data.
en.wikipedia.org...

I live in England in former Humberside.

I have recently bought a new house, new build new estate in a town where broadband is typically at around 8mbps.

But...

I can't get broadband, neither can the other 499 houses on the estate. you see BT won't spend the money to install a line from our estate to the exchange or but in a 1k pair cabinet that is needed.

So we are stuck. We can connect at 10kbps (that's right 10k), BT won't do anything about it, i've complained to OFCOM, to ISPA, i've had my local MP on it and for some reason no one will deliver internet to the estate.

It gets worse....

None of the 3G wireless network cover the estate either.

So basically the only internet access I get is at work. Hence why i'm in ATS when I should be doing my job lol )

Seriously though.... If they are not prepared to spend the money to get an estate of 500 houses online, I highly doubt they will spend any money at all on upgrading the network.

There maybe plans for fiber but that's how they will stay Plans.

BT is a bit like a monster that when cut up doesn't die, but because the parts have no brain, it doesn't know what its doing.

I am disgusted that we are into the 2nd decade of the 21st century and I am once again having to write letters and use snail mail, because we can't get access to the internet.

I feel like I have been propelled 20 years into the past.

Korg.

reply to post by Korg Trinity


Yeah, BT Suck balls. Go Virgin if possible, have you asked? They usually do put in fibres to new-build estates, but you are in the arse-end of nowhere I suppose. There are other providers out there though and being a new-build estate I find your situation very puzzling.

I live in small rural town in Berkshire and I have 50Mb/s from Virgin. Also getting my V+HD installed today too. Seems like you're unlucky!

reply to post by ANNED


Yeah city...Maybe I should stop complaining considering my average download runs at 500kbs/sec

I have 20Mb cable which is, unfortunately, as fast as I can get around here.

I'd LOVE to have something 100x's faster than that

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

Yeah, BT Suck balls. Go Virgin if possible, have you asked? They usually do put in fibres to new-build estates, but you are in the arse-end of nowhere I suppose. There are other providers out there though and being a new-build estate I find your situation very puzzling.

I live in small rural town in Berkshire and I have 50Mb/s from Virgin. Also getting my V+HD installed today too. Seems like you're unlucky!

You would have thought I was in the middle of nowhere huh?

I'm in S#horpe, not exactly a metropolis but non the less should get some broadband.

I contacted virgin... no they haven't cabled my area. No NTL either.... It's like the estate time forgot.

The development company said its nothing to do with them...

I'm stumped.

Cheers,

Korg.

reply to post by GeminiSky


You knoe if they're just now announcing it, the DoD is probably already using it. Would be awesome to have though! I hate the long download waits on those porno sites man.

In all seriousness though, wouldn't this require a lot more high-tech antivirus since viruses would travel so fast now? And without routers in between, how would they. Ensure the light didn't get distorted?

reply to post by dbloch7986


There will still be routers, not sure why you think otherwise. IP packets need to be directed somehow. Many core routers used in networks these days will have optical inputs as well as electrical.

EDIT: This isn't new tech either, as you allude to. In most network cores these days there are optical systems that carry terrabit's per second, it just takes a while for this tech to make it's way down the food chain and reach you and me, mainly due to cost.

Same as how LCD TV's used to be several grand a few years ago and now you can pick one for a few ton.

[edit on 14/7/10 by stumason]

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by dbloch7986

 

EDIT: This isn't new tech either, as you allude to. In most network cores these days there are optical systems that carry terrabit's per second, it just takes a while for this tech to make it's way down the food chain and reach you and me, mainly due to cost.

I used to work for a tier 2 carrier and know of a techy that got sacked when changing out some hardware cause he pulled some fibre as a transaction worth millions was being transmitted.

The thing is the value disappeared from the system it was being transmitted from and the receive station never received it.

This apparently was because light packets do not carry the same parity check technology and if interrupted are lost.

Something to do with the light being re-emitted at various points to amplify the signal over long distances and avoid degradation in signal.

Still... Anything has to be better than my .04mbps connection.... BLOODY BT!!!!!

Korg.

reply to post by Korg Trinity



Really? How odd. I don't know any core transmission kit that does parity checking on each packet. The kit checks for transmission errors, but it is really for the end, higher layer equipment and applications to check packets are sent/receeved. In fact, using TCP will do that over any transmission medium, if it doesn't get a confirmation the packet was received then it will resend. I won't get techy, but data doesn't just "vanish" because a card got pulled.

I work in optical/SDH transmission and I think the excuse given to him for the sacking was bogus. We pull cards all the time, cards fail etc and if packets are lost entirely, thats due to the upper layers, not layer 1.

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

Really? How odd. I don't know any core transmission kit that does parity checking on each packet. The kit checks for transmission errors, but it is really for the end, higher layer equipment and applications to check packets are sent/receeved. In fact, using TCP will do that over any transmission medium, if it doesn't get a confirmation the packet was received then it will resend. I won't get techy, but data doesn't just "vanish" because a card got pulled.

I work in optical/SDH transmission and I think the excuse given to him for the sacking was bogus. We pull cards all the time, cards fail etc and if packets are lost entirely, thats due to the upper layers, not layer 1.

I'm in technical sales so my undertstanding of the technology may not be as deep yours and I may have got it wrong, but I remember the event quite clearly.

There was big investigation as to what happened to the transaction that resulted in the sacking of the technical person involved.

And it turned out it was something to do with a multiplex being replaced... I think it was the wrong one or something.

anyway, this still doesn't help my less than dail up speed so called broadband.

Tried 3 dongle and guess what?? Can't pick up a 3g signal AaarghhHHHH!!!

Korg.