The researchers achieved speeds that are about 2,500 times faster than the fastest commercial fiber that currently can handle speeds of up to 100Gbps. At 255Tbps, the fiber strand can carry the total sum of all internet traffic at peak time. The researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and University of Central Florida (CREOL) used a multicore cable with seven different channels to achieve these remarkable speeds. They managed to achieve this by squeezing 50 carriers down the seven cores, cranking each up to 5.1 Tbps using “spatial multiplexing.” So what can you do with speeds of 255Tbps? You could transfer a 1GB movie in 31.25 microseconds or you could download all 317,060 movies in the IMDB in two and half hours. Mind-blowing, right? However, the technology is yet to reach commercial viability and probably won’t be seen in the market in no less than 5 years. Image: theguardian.com
