Internet, set new speed record: 178 terabits per second

The new world record for speed in Internet data transmission has been set: it is 178 terabits per second (equal to 178 million megabits per second), enough to download the entire Netflix catalog in less than a second. The record was won by researchers from University College London, who thus improved the previous record held by a Japanese team by 20%. The result, which will help upgrade the network’s current infrastructure, was obtained in collaboration with the companies Xtera and KDDI Research, and is published in the journal IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

“While the current interconnections of cloud data centers are capable of transporting up to 35 terabits per second – explains the coordinator of the study, Lidia Galdino – we are working with new technologies that use existing infrastructures more efficiently, making a better use of fiber optic bandwidth and making record transmission of 178 terabits per second possible. ” The record was achieved by transmitting data across a wider range of wavelengths than those typically used in optical fiber. The technique can be applied to existing infrastructures in a cost-effective way by upgrading the amplifiers positioned along the optical fibers at intervals of 40-100 kilometers.

Broadband communication services are increasingly in demand since the beginning of the pandemic, “but beyond the Covid-19 crisis – underlines Galdino – Internet traffic has grown exponentially in the last ten years and this growth is linked to the reduction of cost of the bit. The development of new technologies is crucial to maintain this trend towards lower costs by meeting future demands for data that will continue to increase, with applications that are still unthinkable that will transform people’s lives. “