China reaches 1.2 terabit per second connection speed
Spanning more than 3,000 kilometers, the network connects Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou with a connection speed of 1.2 terabits per second (1,200 gigabits) via an extensive fiber optic cabling system. The network, which was activated in July, was officially put into service at the beginning of this week after working reliably and passing all operational tests. This achievement, achieved through a collaboration between Tsinghua University, China Mobile, Huawei Technologies and Cernet Corporation, overturned expert predictions that 1 terabit per second ultra-high-speed networks would not emerge until 2025.
Most of the world’s internet backbone networks operate at speeds of just 100 gigabits per second. Even the US has just completed the transition to fifth-generation Internet2 at 400 gigabits per second. The Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou connection forms an important part of the Future Internet Technology Infrastructure (FITI), which has been in the works for 10 years and is the latest version of the national China Education and Research Network (Cernet).
Transfers 150 high definition movies in 1 second
The network can “transfer data equivalent to 150 high-definition movies in just one second,” Huawei Technologies Vice President Wang Lei said at a press conference held at Tsinghua University on Monday. Xu Mingwei of Tsinghua University compared the new internet backbone to a super-fast railway that replaces 10 regular lines used to carry the same amount of data. This analogy underlines the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the new system, making it easier to manage while handling a significantly higher data load.