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| Down Under |
| Faster web, no extra cost - scientists |
| 2008-07-09 |
| COMPUTER users frustrated by slow internet connections could soon be surfing the web 100 times faster, all thanks to new Australian technology. University of Sydney scientists say they have developed a new technology that could speed up the internet - and not cost users an extra cent. Described as "a small scratch on a piece of glass'', the university's photonic integrated circuit boosts the performance of traditional optic fibres, Professor Ben Eggleton said. "This circuit uses the 'scratch' as a guide or a switching a path for information - kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another - except this switch takes one picosecond to change tracks,'' Prof Eggleton said of the technology developed over the past four years. "This means that in one second the switch is turning on and off about one million times.'' "Currently we use electronics for our switching and that has been OK, but as we move toward a more tech-savvy future there is a demand for instant web gratification.'' Prof Eggleton said initial testing of the technology showed it was possible to achieve internet speeds 60 times faster than the current Telstra network. But if developed further, the circuit could reach speeds 100 times faster, he said. "This is a critical building block and a fundamental advance on what is already out there,'' Prof Eggleton said. "We are talking about networks that are potentially up to 100 times faster without costing the consumer any more.'' |
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