NTT sets new data transmission record of 14 terabits per second

Remember back in May when we told you about the latest data transmission record of 2.56 terabits per second? Well, consider that yesterday's technology, because Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) just decimated it by announcing a successful new bandwidth record of 14 terabits per second over 160 kilometers (nearly 100 miles) of fiber optic cable. We still think that someone needs to do some research on why Japan always gets the coolest stuff fastest -- not to mention how they get the fastest stuff first.

[Deluxe @ Sep 30th 2006 3:08AM]

Good ole' NTT.

[Eddie @ Sep 30th 2006 3:39AM]

Sweet. Almost 2 terabytes per second. Over almost 100 miles. Now that's ownage.

[Alex C @ Sep 30th 2006 4:25AM]

"We still think that someone needs to do some research on why Japan always gets the coolest stuff fastest -- not to mention how they get the fastest stuff first."

Yes, it is frustrating, but it's because they have been building their technologies and networks with foresight, looking at how things will change in the future. Not just laying down what is just about sufficient for today at the lowest possible price. Ironically, this will save them money in the future.

[fadf @ Sep 30th 2006 4:25AM]

not always.

America gets the fastest intel processors first. those fancy pants japanese laptops are still stuck in pentium-m land.

[bob nojob @ Sep 30th 2006 5:00AM]

Damn it. We tend to get the coolest s**t first or at least at the same time as everyone else. Why are we so far behind on internet. Other countries are laying fiber and getting free wifi and all kindsa goodies. Here in LA, on of the biggest cities in the USA I can only get cable with 60Mbps down and 20Mbps Up. LAME LAME LAME LAME. Screw those terabits, I'd settle for gigabit up and down any day.

[Gok @ Sep 30th 2006 6:44AM]

what kinda sh*t do we get 1st in LA? I dont recall getting anything 1st? at least not the cool stuff.

[Randy Babajtis @ Sep 30th 2006 5:22PM]

I meant US gets cool s**t first, as an example a huge city in the US (LA) has far inferior internet to many other places. I'm just saying that the US is falling behind in the race, not LA specifically. Though I hear San Fran is getting Wi-Fi and fiber.

[Tom R @ Sep 30th 2006 7:34AM]

Wow.. In the East Bay Area I can only get 5 MB down and 1 MB up.. I'm jealous of all of you guys...

[modenadude @ Sep 30th 2006 8:43AM]

Very cool on the new transfer rates, but to the people talking about LA's speeds, how are you getting such freakingly fast speeds (bob nojob)?

I'm in the San Fernando Valley using Speakeasy paying like $120 a month (including three IPs and VoIP) and getting 2.5Mbits/s download and 650Kbits/s upload! What the hell company are you using! Please tell me you messed up the B and b... please, cos otherwise T1 sucks....

;)

[Mark @ Sep 30th 2006 5:10AM]

Hmm.. 14 terabits.. well, my 100Mbit/s fiber optic connection with Yahoo BB Hikari Japan (100M upstream and downstream) is starting to get stale anyway, so this might be a good thing... bring on the bandwidth! :-)

[enjoy_polo @ Sep 30th 2006 5:33AM]

Cool, i actually have NTT Hikari Flets(100Mbps) but 14TB... incredible ! I wonder when it's going to be release on Japan (all over the country)

[Eric @ Sep 30th 2006 7:36AM]

14Terabits??? That makes 24mbps here in Australia look retaradedly slow...

[Michael @ Sep 30th 2006 8:22AM]

How do you -TIME- that!? Like, seriously! That's just plain stupid fast.

Anyway, why do you need to move 14 terabits in a second again? Oh wait, wait...losless LAN gaming. 100-mile-long LAN gaming. -DUH-

[Conor @ Sep 30th 2006 8:34AM]

I get 3Mb/384k out of my DSL connection....

If you want decent home net connections, stay away from Ireland!

[schale_WDI @ Sep 30th 2006 10:31AM]

These lines arent for individual use. These are backbone lines to the internet which must be many times faster.

As to why Japan/Asia gets stuff first. Remember Japan or South Korea have a much smaller area and so Network upgrades whether they are internet or cellular are generally cheaper/easier to do.

[Slider @ Sep 30th 2006 10:40AM]

Can current hard drives even record data at those speeds?

[Rick @ Sep 30th 2006 11:40AM]

lol - good reality check Slider... My guess is it would be useful for real time hdtv. That would suck up a few bits.

[Matt @ Sep 30th 2006 11:57AM]

Its marginly misleading really - its not one single 14tbs connection - its 111gbps x 140 channels.

And as mentioned, this is not a consumer connection. It is a system used for the network backbones. You might get speeds like this to the home, but not for a year or two yet! :)

[diulei @ Sep 30th 2006 1:42PM]

You would think Japan has _all_ the technology, but that's simply not true.

Yes, lots of fine gadgets are released there long before making it across the Pacific, but how many people in Japan even own a dryer? Bet you never thought of that.

And in a country where cellphones can do everything short of wiping your ass, most of the major universities don't even have wifi.

So don't go bitching just yet, we still got some good stuff.

[Tek @ Oct 1st 2006 3:09PM]

I think I agree with the sentiment that not all tech in Japan is better than America, but you have to put some cultural and social limits on what is considered "forward tech." Your example of dryers is a very American one which not only consumes energy (which isn't cheap), as well as take up much coveted space. This is why most people air-dry their clothes. I suppose you could also say that the social make-up of more housewives who do not work who can actually take the time to air-dry plays into this model as well.

In any case, let's just face that Japan is ahead of America in many, many ways. I'd rather be pushing terabits than doing my laundry in a dryer, personally.

[Daniel @ Oct 3rd 2006 1:34AM]

kinda like how bluetooth and more specifically bluetooth ear pieces has been common in europe for years while it just recently made it's way to the US, now that's funny :)

[Frankenstein Black @ Sep 30th 2006 8:02PM]

"We still think that someone needs to do some research on why Japan always gets the coolest stuff fastest" That's because us western apes are becoming more and more anti science every day (stuck in a rut of arrested development imposed by our Oil Barron overlords). Why you ask? Well, because dumb-asses are easier to control!

[silos @ Sep 30th 2006 8:38PM]

oh my god. I think some big guy here needs to buy this gadget to quickly transform internet connection in the world :). Here in Brazil all I get today is a 56kbps (dialup) connection and I have to pay ~13.63U$ monthly for it (today�s change: U$ 1, R$ 2.20). In terms of price per kilobyte/second I pay 2,72U$. Not bad for the internet providers here in Brazil. Actually this is the scenario here. few big folks in charge of internet and none of then are really interested in provide a better sevice for cheapest prices. so, the impact here is that there are not much applications that could bring more business like VOIP, IPTV and others being used because we have no popularization of the broadband .while some countries are creating cool gadgets, some other have to wait and wait.

[Jim Liu @ Sep 30th 2006 10:34PM]

Apprantly no one here had lived in Indonesia. You pay about half million Rupiah (Indonesian dollar, about 60 bucks) every month and get an ADSL connection which takes 10 minutes to load the Engadget homepage (if you're lucky enough).

[stts @ Oct 2nd 2006 2:17AM]

Just to mention, most "new technology" here in the states are never released first in major cities such as SF, NY, or LA. It is first tested in cities like San Antonio, TX.

[greatslack @ Oct 2nd 2006 10:07PM]

Fastest data transfer rate is still a jumbo jet full of DVDs

[MochiBalls @ Oct 9th 2006 3:14PM]

This is awesome news! My 50Mbps YahooBB is too slow haha! Seriously though, I have 50Mbps but most servers I visit can't even keep up or is capped off. The only sites I can take full advantage of these high speeds is big name sites like, Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Apple and many local Japanese sites.

@fadf
Where do you get your info from? I was at a computer shop just hours ago and saw the latest Core2Duo and Xeon processors for sale in both computers and sold separately.

[JJ @ Oct 14th 2006 9:21PM]

When do we get this kinda speed for internet connectivity, myspace takes up so much bandwidth that when my sisters on i cant play css AT ALL!!

[darkmaniac7 @ Oct 31st 2006 8:29PM]

to say that they(japan/europe) have the coolest stuff/make the coolest stuff is a misconception....how? tell me how many hundreds of millions use Microsoft/Apple Products? thatd would be american made not to say japan isnt backward at all....they have corporations such as Sony...however i would think we are ahead in the mobile music industry e.g. Apple Ipod,Creative Zen Video, etc. also id say we are far ahead (as mentioned before) in computer....though the are assembled in asian countries....in any case my point is the U.S. and Asian COuntries all have their pros and cons.

[Kevin @ Jan 24th 2007 9:50PM]

wow thats 250,000,000 times faster then dialup...

[Rob @ Jul 16th 2008 2:24PM]

You could load the data on tape drives which can hold 1.6 Tb maximum, and weigh 9.6 ounces and then fill an A380 cargo jet with them. The maximum load capacity is 150 metric tons and would allow for 551155 tapes, and thus 107.647 Petabytes. And depending on how long the flight takes, for example from Tokyo to Nagano which is about 177 km, let's say it takes 20 min to get there. You can get up to 91.8592759 TBps which is not too shabby.