Internet2 To Get GigaFast

Om Malik | Monday, May 29, 2006 | 11:30 PM PT | 21 comments

Internet2, a network primarily used by academic and research institutions is plenty fast when it comes to speed. It currently runs at about 10 gigabits per second. But that might seem downright glacial when the network operators are done with an upgrade. Plans are afoot to use 80 channels to pump 10 gigabits per second per channel, and upgrade the total backbone bandwidth to a whopping 800 Gbps.

The upgrade will use 80 different wavelengths to send the traffic that could make it possible for uncompressed hi-def video and video conferencing, over the net collaboration and even give a massive boost to grid computing.

Internet2, a consortium of 201 academic institutions plans to phase out its Abilene network, which has been in service for seven years. The consortium will not renew its fiber contract with Qwest Communications. The Abilene Network used 10,000 route-miles of Qwest’s 10-Gigabit-per-second optical network.

Comments (21)

  • What would it cost a non-affiliated institution to hook up? I heard that the internet2 price of a T-1 is 20x or more the standard price.

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  • anybody have a link to the graphic used above (the map)????

    thanks!

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  • You can find all of the different maps for Internet2 at: http://www.internet2.edu/info/#maps

    xHumphrey — 1:32 PM on May 30, 2006
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  • i agree that this is deff a step in the right direction for data distribution but what is this going to cost an adverage customer or is it even going to be offered, the article only talks about “academic institutions” making use of this new internet

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  • I think finally we’re seeing a push to deploy next-gen networks… ISPs are having trouble with their users watching Internet TV and downloading off bittorrent… great!

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  • While your torrents may clog a number of ISP’s up thats mainly due to them overselling thier lines. I’d much rather see lives saved that more people getting an episode of lost that much quicker.

    Persoanlly I can see this being used for academic purposes or even in medical situations. Doctors and students being able to do Hidef streaming of operations or classes.
    Sending larger ammounts of research data between locations, etc.

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  • While I’m all for faster networks, what is the point of uncompressed video? The chips to do the compress/decompress get cheaper every day and batteries are not going to be an issue for things plugging into a multi-gigabit connection, so who needs uncompressed video?

    The sad thing is there are real applications for this extra bandwidth. The aforementioned grid computing. Multi-camera video (i.e. you can see multiple angles of the same thing simultaneously for applications like remote construction, security, surgery). Super-HD video. Real time interactive applications suppoting millions of simultaneous users.

    Jesse Kopelman — 3:41 PM on May 30, 2006
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  • What do the physical connections to the network look like? Is it several fiber-optic lines?

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  • Tyler, there may indeed be multiple fibers but the 80 channels they are talking about are all in the same fiber. They are using some form of wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM, CWDM, etc.) to get all those channels in the same fiber. This means expensive boxes at every junction, but no need to spend $$$ laying new cable.

    Jesse Kopelman — 11:15 AM on May 31, 2006
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  • so that means that with the existing cable lines we have going around the country, an upgrade would only consist of new expensive boxes at each junction, but the existing wires… that go into each house will work for the 10 gig/s?

    Also think about this in terms of gaming, lightning speed everything, data sending. every thing would be absolutely amazing. Other countries already have faster speeds than we do, why not upgrade?

    Also i was wondering if internet 2 works fine with internet 1, do they cross over between each other? i guess all the data on internet 1 is easily transferred over to i2, but a home run website would first need to be run out of his i1 to this expensive “box”

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  • the oligopoly isps have in the united states is disgusting. there’s no reason why they can’t provide customers more bandwith, they just stand to make too big of a profit off of us ‘lowly’ users. It’s not about providing the best service to the customer, its about making the most money. :)

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  • The backbone speeds (what we are talking about here) we have in the US are fine and in most places used nowhere near to capacity. Your ISP doesn’t need Internet 2, what they need is faster “last mile” service. That either means ADSL2 or laying fiber or DOCSYS 2.0. These technologies are all already here, it is just a question of when they will be deployed.

    Jesse Kopelman — 3:19 PM on June 1, 2006
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  • yeah, i agree with u there about the money aspect. Have you heard about FiOS? its going into existance around here, with 15 mb download speeds.

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  • Yes, I’m well aware of Fios. Did you know it could be 200 Mbps if Verizon felt like it. It would cost them about $10/subscriber (1 time, not per month) to make that upgrade. I wonder why they don’t . . .

    Jesse Kopelman — 2:14 PM on June 5, 2006
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  • hello i have read many article and my conclusion about the internet2 is if suppose its a very good advanced research on networking which will provide very igh speed but what usa will or is having planning on coading as far as its is directky related to securities of the other country ;there is some thing which is kept out of range of anybody?
    pls ans it
    ?

    rahul pathak — 2:30 AM on August 23, 2006
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  • how long will it take to download a movie with internet2

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  • How much will internet2 cost

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  • i dont care how much internet2 costs. how do i get it? and more importantly, WHEN WILL IT GO INTERNATIONALLY?! and as a consumer good, that is.

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  • jkeppler: Internet2 is not new it was developed nearly a decade ago.
    HotAss: An article I read said that you would be able to get the HD version of a movie in about 30 seconds. That is unreal if I could only play the lottery.

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  • i use internet1 and would like to use internet2 what do i need to do to use
    internet2 please help

    warren lee — 7:47 PM on July 15, 2008
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