Chinese team claims a 3.2 petabit per second real-time fibre transfer record

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A Chinese research group says it has set a new record for real time data transfer over optical fibre. Tom's Hardware reports that the team achieved 3.2 petabits per second over a 24 core fibre

To put that in perspective, the source says it is fast enough to download more than 20,000 4K films in a second, or to serve 3.2 million households with gigabit broadband at once. It is about 30 percent faster than the same team's 2.5 petabit record from earlier this year

The group includes the National Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Technology, China Information and Communication Technologies Group, Pengcheng Laboratory and Fiberhome Fujikura. The test combined spatial division multiplexing with transmission across the S, C and L wavelength bands, and the main challenges were crosstalk between cores and meeting each band's specifications

Lab experiments on similar fibre have reached 5.29 petabits per second, but those rely on experimental equipment. This test used commercially compliant hardware running in real time, which is why the team counts it as a separate record. The source is a Hubei provincial government website, and no transmission distance has been given

Multi core fibre is one of the most promising ways to keep up with demand from data centres and AI. Using commercial grade kit makes this more relevant than a pure lab stunt. Without a distance figure, though, it is hard to judge how close it is to real networks

How soon will multi core fibre reach real networks? And does the missing distance figure make you sceptical?

3.2 Petabits per second real-time optical fiber transfer speed world record claimed by Chinese team, equivalent to downloading more than 20,000 4K movies in one second - speed improvement of 30% in one yearwww.tomshardware.com