MIT design could speed pp the Internet

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Researchers at the Massachusetts Institutue of Technology  (MIT) have developed technology that they say not only will make the Internet 100 to 1,000 times faster, but also could make high-speed data access a lot cheaper.

The trick to such dramatic performance gains lies within the routers that direct traffic on the Internet, according to Vincent Chan , an electrical engineering and computer science professor at MIT, who led the research team. Chan told Computerworld U.S. that replacing electrical signals inside the routers with faster optical signals would make the Internet 100 times — if not 1,000 times — faster, while also reducing the amount of energy it consumes.

What would the Internet be like if it ran that much faster? Today, a user who has a hard time downloading a 100MB file would be able to easily send a 10GB file, according to Chan.

With increasingly powerful computer processors and bandwidth-hungry applications, the Internet will reach a “choke point” within three to five years, Chan said.

Today’s routers have trouble dealing with incoming fiber-optic signals, so those signals are converted into electrical signals that can be stored in memory until they can be processed, according to MIT’s report . The electrical signals are subsequently converted back to optical signals so they can be sent back out.

That process eats up time and energy, so Chan and his team developed technology they call flow switching that would eliminate the need for such conversions.

A speedier Internet would be a huge accomplishment, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group. “Right now, the network is the bottleneck for hosted computing . This change could transform the industry as we know it,” he said. “We are going to need a faster Internet. We need it now.”

However, industry analysts noted that it would be expensive to replace current routers with the new technology.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now