The Internet reaching capacity limits

After the threats that the IPv4 addresses are insufficient, now researchers are warning that the Internet's physical infrastructure could soon be running at its maximum capacity. What causes the crunch is the fast growth of online media consumption services, such as Netflix and Youtube.

According to René-Jean Essiambre of Alcatel-Lucent, the fiber optic cables that make up the Internet's Backbone have a maximum data capacity of about 100 terabits per second. This limit could be reached within the next five years.

"You can't get an infinite amount of capacity in a fiber," Andrew Ellis at Aston University in Birmingham, UK, told New Scientist.

Hopefully, there are ways to postpone the crunch. Internet researchers met last week at the Royal Society in London to discuss how to prevent the Internet crisis. According to them, one possible solution is to reduce signal interference through the tubes. Another option is the invention of new fibers that contain multiple cores capable of transmitting much larger amounts of data.

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