From the IGN website:
Drooling yet? Suck it Verizon Fios!Researchers Achieve Record Breaking Internet Speeds
The fastest internet ever?
by Scott Lowe
February 29, 2008 - French researchers at Bell Labs announced today that they have managed to create a connection capable of transferring data at speeds of 16.4 terabytes-per-second. The firm claims that a connection was made over the span of 2,550 kilometers, roughly 1,584 miles, at a capacity of 41.8 petabits a second, per kilometer. The connection broke world records for capacity by distance through the use of 164 wavelength-division multiplexed channels, each modulating 100Gbps. In layman's terms, wavelength-division multiplexing technology essentially combines multiple optical signals into one optical fiber by organizing the laser light wavelengths into separate, distinguishable colors.
The significance of building a connection as prodigious as 16.4Tbps is important in terms of making strides towards the development of a 100Gbps Ethernet connection. By exploiting the increased fiber bandwidth made available by Bell Labs' recent innovations in wavelenght-division multiplexing, developers will be able to cope with the growing demands for greater capacity in internet backbones. As of press time, details on any projected public implementation remain unknown.
