[Toasty]

This is pretty big news. I mean, I've known about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for a while, but I never knew that it would spawn a whole new internet that's about 10,000 times faster than the one we're using right now.

This is a good article about it.

Basically, the LHC needed to have a way to transfer the ****load of information it would be producing each year (enough information, infact, to make a stack of CD's 40 miles high). Thus, Cern invented "The Gird." A network of 55,000 servers (some located in the US, and other countries. Britain has 8,000 of them) all connected with fibre-optic cables. This way, all of the servers are linked with the fastest connection available. The information won't travel through slower connections, so the data transfer rates will be 10,000 times faster than what's available right now.

Eventually, we'll actually pay the same for video calls as telephone calls, and we'll even get holographic confrencing/etc., because the speed of data transfer will allow it. Just imagine using this for online gaming. :)

But anyway, the 55,000 servers are predicted to grow to 200,000 within the next few years. So eventually, this will become the new internet.

And as for storing all of my information on the internet (another possibility thanks to the speed of this system), I think I'd rather stick to a good 'ol portable hard drive. Or make my own server and access from wherever I am, whenever I want to. :)

[Eugine]

Yep yep. Sounds nice.

Unfortunately, I doubt it's 'coming soon'. Oh, and probably everyone (well, atleast the developed countries) will experience this technology except USA. Your companies are way too profit driven. Get ready to pay $4k per month for the service ^__^

Quote

Although the grid itself is unlikely to be directly available to domestic internet users, many telecoms providers and businesses are already introducing its pioneering technologies.

[Toasty]

If the number of servers connected to the grid hits 200k two year from now, I'd expect to see this be a public within two years after that.

Basically, all this would be doing, is getting rid of electrical cables and obsolete equipment, and replacing it with fibre-optic cables and modern routers. Since a lot of companies already have fibre-optic cables installed, it won't be hard to get them connected.

And I doubt that once this becomes mainstream, that we'll be shelling out 4 grand a month for it. My house has a fibre-optic connection, and we pay $25 a month, or something like that for the service.

[Someone Else]

Toasty, on Apr 8 2008, 12:20 PM, said:

And I doubt that once this becomes mainstream, that we'll be shelling out 4 grand a month for it. My house has a fibre-optic connection, and we pay $25 a month, or something like that for the service.

If it cost 4k it wouldn't become mainstream. XD

[Max]

Part of the problem with that hypothesis is that news reporters have little to no technical background, and yet feel the need to extrapolate on things they hear from people in-the-know. Like you said, the high speeds are only possible because they don't connect to anything slower. In fact, they only allow certain computers on the network so that the large pipes don't get congested.

While they will be expanding, it is for the purpose of increasing the amount of data they can store and who they can send it to (other universities). Such a system has existed for awhile now (Internet 2), this is just CERN's spin on it.

Also, keep in mind that fiber is only just now starting to roll out to residential areas in the US (e.g., Verizon FiOS). I'd imagine it will take another 5-10 years before a significant portion of the US has access to fiber, though certainly other countries might have fiber to the homes sooner.