Title: Engineers Achieve Record-Breaking Data Transfer Speeds at Large Hadron Collider
In a nerve-wracking IT update at Cern, the home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), network engineers Edwin Verheul and Joachim Opdenakker successfully set up a new data link that can reach speeds of 800 gigabits per second. This achievement, which is more than 11,000 times the average UK home broadband speed, will improve scientists’ access to the results of LHC experiments.
The engineers, who work for the Dutch IT association SURF, faced challenges in beaming pulses of light over a 1,650km cable from Geneva to Amsterdam. The upgrade was necessary as the LHC is expected to produce five times more data by 2029.
While 800 Gbps may seem fast now, researchers in Japan recently reached a record-breaking 22.9 petabits per second in data transmission. This extraordinary speed, equivalent to supplying every person on the planet with a Netflix stream, opens up possibilities for future applications that require extreme bandwidth.
Despite the rapid growth in demand for bandwidth, particularly driven by content provision like social media and video streaming, there are still challenges in improving internet speeds for all users. While most home users can access gigabit per second speeds, only a third are signing up for such technology.
As technology continues to advance, the need for faster and more reliable data transfer speeds will only increase. Engineers and researchers are already pushing the boundaries of what is possible, paving the way for a future where data can be transferred at unprecedented speeds.
