Packet tracking promises ultrafast internet

[wessman]

Packet tracking promises ultrafast internet
Fast TCP can run on existing infrastructure, but would allow a whole movie to be downloaded in just five seconds

by Barry Fox
10:54 05 June 03
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993799

Imagine an internet connection so fast it will let you download a whole movie in just five seconds, or access TV-quality video servers in real time. That is the promise from a team at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who have developed a system called Fast TCP.

A key feature of Fast TCP is that it could run on the same internet infrastructure we have today. Steven Low, who led the Caltech team, likens the way the internet works now to driving a car while looking only 10 metres ahead. You slowly increase the car's speed until an obstacle comes into view, but then you have to hit the brakes.

"This is OK for driving slowly in a parking lot," says Low. But on the open road you need to be able to look further ahead: "That's what we are doing with Fast TCP."

How to speed up the net:
http://www.newscientist.com/ns_image...99993799F1.JPG

Today, all traffic on the internet uses a system called the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) developed in the 1970s by network engineers Vinton Cerf at Stanford University and Bob Kahn at the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Safe arrival

TCP breaks down large files into small packets of about 1500 bytes, each carrying the address of the sender and the recipient. The sending computer transmits a packet, waits for a signal from the recipient that acknowledges its safe arrival, and then sends the next packet.

If no receipt comes back, the sender transmits the same packet at half the speed of the previous one, and repeats the process, getting slower each time, until it succeeds.

This means that even minor glitches on the line can make a connection very sluggish. Because Fast TCP uses the same packet sizes as regular TCP, the hardware that carries messages around the net will still work. The difference is in software and hardware on the sending computer, which continually measures the time it takes for sent packets to arrive, and how long acknowledgements take to come back.

This reveals the delays on the line, giving early warnings of likely packet losses. The Fast TCP software uses this to predict the highest data rate the connection can support without losing data.

Gigabits per second

Since the packets are the same size as those used in TCP, none of the equipment along the internet itself will have to be modified, and no new hardware will be needed on computers receiving the data.

The first practical test of Fast TCP took place in November at a supercomputing conference. Researchers from Caltech, Stanford and CERN near Geneva in Switzerland, sent data 10,000 kilometres from Sunnyvale, California, to CERN at an average rate of 925 megabits per second. Ordinary TCP managed just 266 megabits per second on the same routes.

By ganging 10 Fast TCP systems together, the researchers have achieved transmission speeds of over 8.6 gigabits per second, which is more than 6000 times the capacity of ordinary broadband links.

The improved "Internet 2" infrastructure, currently being developed for scientific data transmission between 200 universities around the world, will use conventional TCP to run at around 350 megabits per second, but will run even faster with Caltech's technology.

And the bandwidth-hungry entertainment industry is also looking at Fast TCP. Caltech is already in talks with Microsoft and Disney about using it for video on demand.

© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

[Tremaine]

Sounds interesting good thread!

[Rickio]

Very Good, sounds way cool!

Hurry up fast TCP lol

[.::BeatFactory::.]

Just a question but ... how many of wessman's post have been news? 99%?

I'm too lazy to look through his posts to figure it out

[ian_l_williams]

Its all rubbish, the reporters are all idiots (its been quoted in a number of places). They are quoting badly and misleading everyone horribly. The 6000 times faster is a comparison of the speed achievable on an ordinary broadband link with that of the speed achievable by 10 high speed links put together. So unless u r planning on buying 10 high speed links anytime soon forget the "film in 5 seconds".
A link rated at 512kbps (normal broadband in the uk) can carry that much information. MAX. With normal TCP there is some overhead so for downloading u'll only get 90% or so of the 512. Fast TCP will just route the packets better and reduce the overhead a bit so if u r already getting your full speed you'd probably gain a few kBps.

[MamiyaOtaru]

agreed: I don't see how this could speed up your downloads beyond what your connection is rated for. Still: who ever consistantly downloads at their max? Little hiccups can totally slow you down, and this tech looks like it can at least keep you more consistantly at top speeds, even if it doesn't increase them.

And current hardware can handle it: that's nice. In the sense that current hardware is 'compatible.' At the same time, I wonder if current hardware would be up for a vast increase in the number of packets floating around.. It may be possible: possible to create an internet logjam hehe

Just thoughts I have..

[Cleric]

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[FileHoover]

This is about the 50th time this same story has been posted.

We have the technology to go to the moon. No one but a select few has the equipment to do it. That's the same thing with this. Don't be an idiot and start thinking this is reality.