Internet data speed record will benefit scientists 13:31 23 May 02 NewScientist.com news service
A new trans-continental internet data transfer record has been set by researchers at the University of Alaska and the University of Amsterdam.
The record was set using cutting edge network infrastructure that is being developed as part of a project known as Internet2. This project involves over 190 universities as well as government and industry research teams.
The goal is to develop an internet backbone capable of carrying vast amounts of data between computers. It is hoped this will drive forward new internet technologies that require high data transfer speeds, such as tele-immersion and virtual reality.
This backbone could also give researchers in many scientific disciplines access to massive amounts of data and computing power at other universities across the planet. The integration of these resources is often referred to as "the Grid".
Cees de Laat, researcher at the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam says: "High speed backbones are essential for today's Grid applications where scientists on a global scale want to handle terabyte size datasets in international collaborations. This Land Speed Record shows what two distant locations can do together when they set their mind to it."
Gigabyte flight
The record-breaking feat, reported in New Scientist magazine on 18 May, involved send a CD's worth of data - almost a gigabyte - a quarter of the way around the world in just 13 seconds.
Data transfer speeds peaked at 401 megabits per second in transit over the 12,272 kilometres of network between the two institutions. This is more than 8000-times faster than the average dial-up modem and hundreds of times faster than most broadband home internet services.
The feat won the Internet2 Land Speed Record, organised by the Internet2 consortium.
"The new Internet2 Land Speed Record demonstrates that high performance networking is not constrained by national boundaries," said Rich Carlson, network research scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and consortium representative.
Will Knight