Download Times a Thing of the Past?

We just reported yesterday that MSN thinks broadband internet access has arrived. Well check this out: it makes today’s broadband look like the Pony Express

Scientists have developed a new data transfer protocol for the Internet fast enough to download a full-length DVD movie in less than five seconds, the California Institute of Technology said today.

The protocol is called FAST, standing for Fast Active queue management Scalable Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

The researchers achieved a speed of 8,609 megabits per second (Mbps) by using 10 simultaneous flows of data over routed paths, the largest aggregate throughput ever accomplished in such a configuration, Caltech said in a news release. “That is 153,000 times that of today’s modem and close to 6,000 times that of the common standard for ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) connections.”

“The FAST protocol sustained this speed using standard packet size, stably over an extended period on shared networks in the presence of background traffic, making it adaptable for deployment on the world’s high-speed production networks,” Caltech said.

Harvey Newman, a professor of physics at Caltech, said the fast protocol “represents a milestone for science, for grid systems, and for the Internet.”

….With Internet speeds doubling roughly annually, the performances demonstrated by the new protocol could become commonly available in the next few years, Caltech said. “So the demonstration is important to set expectations, for planning, and to indicate how to utilize such speeds” [National Geographic]

This is outrageous and right around the corner (“the next few years”): instant digital entertainment. The entertainment industries better have a rational digital delivery system in order by the time this arrives or they will cease to exist.