A group of researchers led by the University of Tokyo has broken Internet speed records twice in two days, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said operators of the high-speed Internet2 network announced that the researchers on December 30 sent data at 7.67Gbps, using standard communications protocols.
The next day, using modified protocols, the team broke the record again by sending data over the same 20,000-mile path at 9.08 Gbps, the report said.
That likely represents the current network's final record because rules require a 10% improvement for recognition, a percentage that would bring the next record right at the Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps, the report added.
However, the Internet2 consortium is planning to build a new network with a capacity of 100 Gbps, the report said.
With the 10-fold increase, a high-quality version of the movie 'The Matrix' could be sent in a few seconds rather than half a minute over the current Internet2 and two days over a typical home broadband line, the report said.
Researchers used the newer Internet addressing system, called IPv6, to break the records in December. Data started in Tokyo and went to Chicago, Amsterdam and Seattle before returning to Tokyo, the report said.
Speed records under the older addressing system, IPv4, are in a separate category and stand at 8.8 Gbps, set in February 2006, the report further said.