Internet2, the fiber-based national academic broadband network, plans to expand the speed and reach of the national network. Scheduled for completion in mid-2007, the network is planned to provide 100 Gbps of bandwidth throughout the Internet2 network and offer other advanced features.
Key international exchange points in major cities including New York City, Chicago and Seattle, will provide Internet2 members additional connectivity points to Internet2’s international partners, providing better access to international research networks and leading-edge international scientific projects like the Large Hadron Collider operated by CERN in Switzerland.
This week at its annual Fall Internet2 Meeting, the first major segment of its new nationwide network from New York to Chicago was demoed. Internet2 plans to deploy its new advanced nationwide research network over the Level 3 backbone.
Level 3 is deploying Infinera’s DTN optical system to enable Internet2 members to enjoy large-scale capacity and dynamic optical circuit provisioning.
The New York-Chicago link this week carried SONET traffic in support of an uncompressed high-definition videoconference, and then quickly reconfigured to transport Infinera’s 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) demonstration.
A 100 GbE signal was sent through the Internet2 network from Chicago to New York and back again, a total distance of 4,000 kilometers. The demo was designed to show the viability of 100 GbE as a transport technology and the implementation of 100 GbE as ten parallel flows of 10 Gbps each, carried over today’s Infinera DTN system.
The IEEE hopes to standardize 100G Ethernet over distances as far as 6 miles over single-mode fiber optic cabling and 328 feet over multimode fiber.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is developing gigabit wireless technology. According to CSIRO’s website, the new wireless protocol will use the 55GHz band and will transfer at 10Gbps by transmitting 16 streams of DVD-quality video over a distance of 250 meters (820 feet), which will apparently only be “one-tenth of the capacity of the link.” The links will operate between 71 and 86 GHz.
NEC Corporation has introduced new gigabit Ethernet (GbE) wireless gear for its PASOLINK NEO point-to-point system. It provides a gigabit Ethernet interface for the first time, using a proprietary transmission scheme, for throughput of over 150 Mbps in the 28 MHz band.
In other news, Broadcom today announced a new Wi-Fi Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) processor that extends its Intensi-fi family of draft-802.11n solutions. By integrating a GbE controller and increasing the processor’s clock speed, Broadcom allows the system to achieve the theoretical maximum wireless 802.11n performance. In real world tests conducted by Broadcom and validated by a third-party testing company, products powered by the new Broadcom BCM4705 GbE processor produced industry leading Wi-Fi throughput in excess of 160 Megabits per second (Mbps).
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