This single strand of fiber can handle the entire world’s internet traffic

Researchers from the United States and the Netherlands have managed to transmit data across a kilometer-long, single strand of fiber cable at a whopping 255Tb/s, which is about 2,500 times faster than any commercial fiber. According to ExtremeTech, that’s close to 32TB per second, enough to transfer a 1GB movie in 0.03 milliseconds.

The researchers were able to achieve this using a so-called multi-core cable with 7 separate channels, although the hardware alone didn’t account for the insane speed. They also squeezed 50 carriers down the 7 cores, cranking each up to 5.1Tb/s using something that’s known as “spatial multiplexing.”

While none of that technology is new by itself, using them together is how the team was able to achieve a speed that’s so high, that the single strand of fiber that they used would be enough to handle the entire world’s peak internet traffic. Although you shouldn’t expect this technology to be implemented any time soon, as there’s no way to mass produce the cables. Still impressive.

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