"'The Grid' Could Soon Make the Internet Obsolete"

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by superstring01, Apr 7, 2008.

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  1. superstring01 Moderator

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    From The Times Online:

    Quite an interesting development from our amis at CERN.

    ~String
     
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  3. RubiksMaster Real eyes realize real lies Registered Senior Member

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    Well, it wouldn't really make the internet obsolete. The "internet" is still "the internet" regardless of the physical layer.
     
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  5. superstring01 Moderator

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    Actually, um, do you mean the web? Just curious. Because the grid could, theoretically sub-plant the internet. The web (world wide web) is merely computers that are commercially linked trough the routers on the internet. The web would work... hell, it would work BETTER, on the grid. I think the difference is that the grid is a totally different series of routers and cabling that has utilized the latest technologies only (i.e. fiber optics, new more efficient routers that use a more efficient router protocol).

    Just a thought.

    ~String
     
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  7. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    The internet had already got data centre's that act like hubs for high speed data transfers, of course the main problem with the net is ISP's that split the speeds down for their users.

    Basically the average student won't gain access to these high speeds, it's meant for the Institutes that share vast amounts of data (Physics, Medical, Computing projects) The UK government wouldn't fit the bill for every student to gain their own personal access to such a high speed network because of cost, which means the consumer will likely gain such speeds in the future depending on what they are prepared to pay.
     
  8. shichimenshyo Caught in the machine Registered Senior Member

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    This is awesome!
     
  9. superstring01 Moderator

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    Agreed. But, from what I'm reading, the way the grid is designed and regulated, it has to utilize only fibre optics. In the next 25 years, I think we'll begin to see more dispersion of fibre optics to localities (businesses will demand it). Once consumers begin using the web for "television-like" viewing along with everything else, I believe that this technology will proliferate more.

    ~String
     
  10. Crunchy Cat F-in' *meow* baby!!! Valued Senior Member

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  11. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    superstring01 im not so sure

    One of the policies at the last election was a "fiber to the node" and people were asking why not fiber to my house. The answer was that its simply to expencive to recable a country the size of Australia with fiber optic cable to ever house.

    MAYBE cable internet will keep increasing (if they ever lay any more of those bloody cables I WANT CABLE DAMIT) but i doubt we will see the copper network replaced in a hurry
     
  12. superstring01 Moderator

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    Fibre optics are, indeed, WAY too expensive... right now. Thus, I said in 25 years or so, it'll propagate closer to home. This fact is already coming true. About a decade ago one could only find fibre optics in pan oceanic or continental trunks. During the internet boom, thousands of miles of fibre optics were laid within nations and between cities. Now you have fibre optics being run from community to community. Although traffic has grown exponentially, so has capacity. With this proliferation has occurred a dramatic drop in the cost of fibre optics. Once the domain of Europe, Japan and the USA, now there fibre optics are being produced for cheap in places like Korea, China and Brazil.

    It's not cheap enough right now to run to my house**, but it's getting there.

    ~String
    __________________________________________________________
    **While living in Phoenix, the community of Ahwatukee Foothills boasted that it had f.o. connections directly to the houses built there. That was pretty damned cool.
     
  13. madanthonywayne Morning in America Registered Senior Member

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    Um, I'm pretty sure Verizon is offering internet service via a fiber optic link right to my house. So far I've stuck with my cable internet access because I don't want to change my email address (it's printed on all my forms).
     
  14. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Yeah, I've seen adverts offering fibre services to the door too, so it's not prohibitively expensive at all.

    I doubt 'the grid' will change anything noticeably, we aren't going to have a switch over day, just a slow and steady replacement of technology, growing accustomed to the improvements as they happen.
     
  15. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    CERN invented the internet? \
    THE TEXTBOOK LIED TO ME.

    It also said that Spam (computer term) came from monty python. I think that might be true though.
     
  16. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    DARPA invented 'The Internet', CERN invented the web server/browser, and while it captured the imagination of the masses, it wasn't much of a stretch from gopher, wais, and uucp systems that prceded it, it just made stuff a little easier.


    Probably, geek humour and all that.
     
  17. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    figures.
     
  18. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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    Most likely we'll see fiber to nodes in and around neighborhoods, with high capacity wireless routers broadcasting to the area, one simply gets on with an encrypted key using a wireless card. Copper to the house would no longer be required.
     
  19. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    Hey. wait for us to get beyond ADSL 2 first. We aussies need the internet too
     
  20. 15ofthe19 35 year old virgin Registered Senior Member

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    Wasn't there a guy on here a few months ago who was worried about that large hardon collider at CERN asploding, and pretty much ending the earth?

    Whatever happened to that cat? He's not out on a ledge somewhere is he?
     
  21. redwards I doubt it Registered Senior Member

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    You'd think a respectable publication would have one engineer on staff to sanity check absurd assertions like, "We're replacing the internet."
     
  22. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    That's the way it is now and will be into the future. I don't think you'll ever see prices come down if you want faster speeds, ever. True, the speeds will increase but the top end speeds will increase much higher as well.

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