China has recently rolled out the ‘world’s fastest internet network’ that it claims can transmit data at a rate of 1.2 terabits per second.
The project has been jointly developed by the Tsinghua University, China Mobile, Huawei and CERNET.com Corporation, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The speed is said to be over ten times faster than most of the currently running internet systems in the world and it can enable users to transmit an equivalent of 150 films per second, the South China Morning Post reported.
The newly launched next-generation internet backbone covers 3,000 kilometers while linking Beijing, Wuhan, and Guangzhou through an extensive optical fibre cable network, Xinhua added.
The optical fibre cabling was reportedly activated in July while it was officially launched on November 13, following all the operational tests on it.
The rest of the internet backbone networks across the world are capable of operating at just 100 gigabits per second. Even the United States has recently accomplished transitioning to its fifth generation of Internet2 at 400 gigabits per second.
According to the South China Morning Post, the high-speed internet system is a part of the China Education and Research Network (Cernet) and China’s Future Internet Technology Infrastructure (FITI), a project in progress for the past ten years.
China to build even faster internet
On the announcement of the fastest network, the FITI project leader Wu Jianping from the Chinese Academy of Engineering stated that the superfast line was “not only a successful operation”, but also gives China the “advanced technology to build an even faster internet in future”, the report added.
On the other hand, Huawei Technologies vice-president Wang Lei said that the network is “capable of transferring the data equivalent of 150 high-definition films in just one second”.
Meanwhile, Xu Mingwei from Tsinghua University compared the newly revealed backbone network to a superfast train track that had replaced the 10 regular tracks that used to carry the same amount of data. This has made it much cheaper and easier to manage.
Mingwei further stressed the new network to be a significant advance for China, where the reliance on the US and Japan for routers and other components of internet technology used to be a concern.
Reportedly, all of the software and hardware used in the system has been domestically produced, with the technical research team making advancements in everything from routers and switches to optical fibre connections.
The FITI project leader, Wu and his team developed their own superfast router, which is capable of handling more data than ever before. The team has also proposed technology that can aggregate multiple optical paths to increase the upper limits of data transmission.
