Warp speed in cyberspace

BY NADIA LOUISE KRISTENSEN

The next giant leap in the development of networks is currently being prepared in Denmark

The information highway is set to be expanded from something that looks like 2 tracks, to 20. Services such as Facebook, YouTube, games, IP telephony and IPTV are seriously challenging the bandwidth, so the internet needs extra capacity.

“Although we have been through an IT bubble that burst, and times of downturn, the internet is still growing. In Western countries, traffic is increasing by 50 per cent annually, while in newly developed countries the figure is 80 per cent annually. New services are constantly appearing, which put pressure on network bandwidth. YouTube alone is now generating more traffic than the entire internet in 1997. We have a pressing need for bandwidth that is 10 times faster than what we have today,” says Daniel Joseph Barry, marketing director of the Danish company TPACK.

Together with the Danish development division of Enigma Semiconductors, TPACK is leading the development of some of the essential components for handling large amounts of data traffic.

“Our role is to make the circuits which enable traffic to be channelled around at 100 Mbps. We want to ensure that data is moved to the right place,” says Daniel Joseph Barry.

Enigma Semiconductors makes the switch that divides up the traffic.

The two companies have jointly won an order with a Japanese system supplier, which will introduce 10 Gbps systems on both the Japanese and North American market. They hope to win similar orders for 100 Gbps systems in the future.

In collaboration with a Danish university, TPACK and Enigma Semiconductors have applied to the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation for funding to develop a demonstrator which can show that a 100 gigabit network is possible.

“If we get the money, we can be ready with the 100 gigabit network in three years, and that is not a moment too soon,” says Daniel Joseph Barry.

Although they reuse part of the technology from slower networks, there is much that needs to be adjusted and rethought.

And the price cannot be much higher than prices on the fastest networks today.

“We reuse as much as we can, but we need to develop a solution that is 10 times faster. Everything needs to function 10 times faster, so we push the technology to the limit,” says Daniel Joseph Barry.

If the two companies receive support from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation, they expect to gain a leading role in the coming technology and to generate revenues of between DKK 100 million and DKK 1 billion within five years.

llustration by Lars Chrois