Sharper virtual reality soon? Hongkongers develop software to hit fastest data centre connection speeds yet and slash costs
Polytechnic University team’s work with technology firm Huawei could lead to breakthrough for household internet users at 240 gigabits per second over 2km
Faster, clearer, sharper, cheaper – a team of five Polytechnic University researchers have developed a new optical communications software that boasts the fastest connection speeds recorded to date for data centres.
The research breakthrough could also pave the way for newer forms of virtual reality technology requiring mass transmission of data and make them more easily available to household internet users.
The software, developed by PolyU engineering researchers after more than a year of study in collaboration with technology firm Huawei, allows communication speeds for data centres to reach 240 G bits per second over 2km – a rate that is 24 times the existing speed now offered in the market and at a significantly cheaper cost of HK$4,680 per connection.
Existing technology in the market costs HK$18,720 for every connection.
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The software improves connection speeds as it builds on optical fibre technology suffering from light signal distortion.
Previous efforts focusing on hardware components to address the distortion were expensive and took up vital space at data centres.