Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Japanese technology company, NTT, is showing off a prototype chip that can push internet speeds up to 2 Terra bits per second (2 Tbps) or the equivalent of 2 million Mbps.
NTT stated that the chip could increase the speed of communication in large-scale internet infrastructure such as data centers and seabed optical cables.
NTT Research CEO Kazuhiro Gomi stated that the tiny chip made by NTT has the function of boosting the strength of the 100 GHz electrical signal. However, the application of this chip is still a few years away.
He explained that amplification of electrical signals is the main key in communication technology. The reason is that the weak signal makes the data difficult to read by the receiving terminal.
The higher the frequency used to deliver communication data, the more difficult the signal is to amplify because it requires a faster response time. NTT managed to amplify the 100 GHz signal in their lab.
Mini-sized devices are another key in building efficient communications equipment. “We then implemented that success into a very small product. Simply put, it’s the size of your fingertip,” said Gomi as quoted by Reuters on Friday (24/2/2022).
Gomi said the prototype chip was manufactured using a new material called indium phosphide, not silicon like other chips.
This chip, he continued, is an important component in achieving internet speeds of 2 Tbps or 2 million Mbps. Fiber optic internet speed is currently only in the range of 100 Gbps or 100,000 Mbps.
Internet network provider companies are now in transition to increase the speed of optical cable connections to 400 Gbps (400,000 Mbps) with the ambition to reach speeds of 1.2 Tbps (1.2 million Mbps).
Gomi predicts that the new 2 million Mbps speed will be available in the real world in the next 6 to 7 years because chips made by NTT will have to be used in communications equipment made by other companies.
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