Fancy 180Gbps broadband? Researchers claim network speed world record

Shot in the arm for network speeds...

Researchers are claiming to have set a new world record for the speed at which data can be transferred over long distance networks.

An international team of scientists and engineers transferred data in opposite directions at a combined rate of 186Gbps.

Researchers claim to have set a world record with the 186Gbps data transfer ratePhoto: Shutterstock

The team sent the data between the University of Victoria Computing Centre in British Columbia and the Washington State Convention Centre in Seattle, using an 100Gbps network. The sustained two-way data rate of 186 Gbps - 98Gbps in one direction and 88 Gbps in the other - between two datacentres, broke their previous peak-rate record of 119 Gbps, set in 2009.

The team of high-energy physicists, computer scientists, and network engineers involved groups from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Victoria, the University of Michigan, Cern, Florida International University, and other partners.

Harvey Newman, professor of physics and head of the high-energy physics (HEP) team, said that high-speed networks of this type will play a vital role in transporting the ever increasing amounts of data being handled by academia and businesses.

"Our group and its partners are showing how massive amounts of data will be handled and transported in the future," he said in a statement. "Having these tools in our hands allows us to engage in realisable visions others do not have. We can see a clear path to a future others cannot yet imagine with any confidence."

One possible application will be transferring data from the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator experiments at Cern, which is distributed to a global grid of 300 computing facilities for analysis. To date, more than 100 petabytes of data have been relayed from the experiment.