Internet speeds are increasing rapidly around the world, with fibre connections becoming more prevalent and the rollout of 5G networks globally. You won’t readily get these new record speeds, though. A new world internet speed record has been set by Australian researchers, clocking a swift 44.2 Terabits per second.
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This new internet speed record is the quickest ever recorded from a single optical chip. At these speeds you can download 1,000 HD movies in around a second.
The researchers’ findings have been published in the touted journal Nature Communications, which could completely change our utilisation of current technologies to further connectivity around the world.
In light of the strain being placed on the internet infrastructure during the coronavirus pandemic, this advancement comes at the opportune time. The researchers from Monash, Swinburne and RMIT universities noted that this technology has the capacity to support high-speed internet connections of 1.8 million people in Melbourne, Australia.
“We’re currently getting a sneak-peak of how the infrastructure for the internet will hold up in two to three years’ time, due to the unprecedented number of people using the internet for remote work, socialising and streaming. It’s really showing us that we need to be able to scale the capacity of our internet connections,” said Dr Bill Corcoran, co-lead author of the study and Lecturer in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University.
“What our research demonstrates is the ability for fibres that we already have in the ground, thanks to the NBN project, to be the backbone of communications networks now and in the future. We’ve developed something that is scalable to meet future needs.”
“And it’s not just Netflix we’re talking about here – it’s the broader scale of what we use our communication networks for. This data can be used for self-driving cars and future transportation and it can help the medicine, education, finance and e-commerce industries, as well as enable us to read with our grandchildren from kilometres away.”
