Two network engineers held their breath in February deep within a warehouse at Cern, the Swiss facility housing the world’s largest scientific experiment, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). and hit the button.
Abruptly, characters appeared on a dark backdrop on a display in front of them. It had been successful. According to Joachim Opdenakker of SURF, a Dutch IT association serving academic and research institutions, “high-fiving was involved.” “It was really awesome to see.”
He had recently established a new data link with his colleague Edwin Verheul between data storage facilities in The Netherlands and the LHC in Switzerland.
a data connection capable of 800 gigabits per second (Gbps), which is more than 11,000 times faster than the typical household internet speed in the UK. Enhancing scientists’ access to LHC experiment results is the goal.
Subsequent testing in March with Nokia-loaned special equipment demonstrated that the targeted speeds could be reached.
“This transponder that Nokia uses, it’s like a celebrity,” Mr. Verheul explains, describing how the equipment is reserved far in advance for use at different places. “Our test-taking time was constrained. The transponder is gone if you have to postpone for a week.”
Although this bandwidth—which is about one terabit per second—is incredibly quick, certain subsea cables may transfer data at speeds up to several hundred times faster.
