Internet2 Fiber-Optic Line Sets Bandwidth Record

NEW YORK – By sending data using different colors of light, operators of the ultrahigh-speed Internet2 network are hoping to boost capacity by as much as 80-fold to enable researchers to connect telescopes around the world and perform other bandwidth-intensive tasks.

The new network should be in place by fall 2007, said Douglas Van Houweling, Internet2's chief executive.

He announced the plans this week as researchers set a new networking speed record — 8.8 gigabits per second, nearing the Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps, which is thousands of times faster than standard home broadband connections.

"We have applications now that need more than 10 gigabits of capacity," Van Houweling said by phone Wednesday from the nonprofit Internet2 consortium's twice-annual meeting in Arlington, Va.

The Internet2 network, which parallels the regular Internet to let universities, corporations and researchers share large amounts of information in real time, currently uses shared fiber optic cables run by Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q).

In the new network, Internet2 will have the cables all to itself. Operators will initially be able to transmit data using 10 colors, or wavelengths, of light over a single cable, giving the network a capacity of 100 Gbps. Eventually, Internet2 hopes to transmit on 80 wavelengths.

Although the ability to send data using multiple wavelengths isn't new, Van Houweling said Internet2 will be deploying new circuits that can each interpret all 10 wavelengths.

The new network will still be run by a contractor, which Van Houweling wouldn't name.

With the 10-fold increase, a high-quality version of the movie "The Matrix" could be sent in a few seconds rather than half a minute over the current Internet2 and two days over a typical home broadband line.

Van Houweling said the upgrade is driven by new research needs. For example, astronomers are trying to link radio telescopes around the world, pooling data so they function as one.

Van Houweling said the added capacity can also allow U.S. scientists to fully use the world's largest particle physics collider being built outside Geneva.

The Internet2 speed record announced Wednesday was set in February by a team from the University of Tokyo, the University of Amsterdam and other institutions.

Data went from Tokyo to Seattle to Amsterdam to Chicago and back to Tokyo. The speed breaks the previous high of 7.99 Gbps, set in November.

Internet2 has been in merger talks with another ultrahigh-speed, next-generation network, National LambdaRail, but such discussions have stalled, Van Houweling said.

More than 200 U.S. universities now belong to the Internet2 consortium.