Internet2 = 9.08 gigabits a second

[Steve Gibby]

I just caught an Associated Press article the new Internet2 (IPv6) high speed network. They recently sent data over a 20,000 mile path at 9.08 Gbps. The consortium also said they are building a new network with a capacity of 100 Gbps. According to their article a full length feature movie at high resolution (1080p?) could be sent in just a few seconds on the 100 Gbps network, a half minute on the current Internet2 (at 9.08 Gbps), and it would currently take two days to send it over a typical home internet broadband connection.

The data delivery "pipes" are getting fatter and faster - this bodes well for the future of IPTV delivery of projects to consumers, extranet linkage of editing groups, stock footage delivery of 4k and 2k clips, delivery of digital features to theaters with digital projection systems (RED 4k?), and on and on. Capability of ancillary revenue streams for features and other ultra-HD projects is progressing.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18293970/

[PaulClements]

Hasn't anyone told them that a 100% uptime 27MBps RedCode stream would suffice? ...muppets :)

On a serious note that is great news. The studios ought to be grinning like mad.

[Steve Gibby]

Hasn't anyone told them that a 100% uptime 27MBps RedCode stream would suffice? ...muppets :)

On a serious note that is great news. The studios ought to be grinning like mad.

Yeah...imagine how many simultaneous 27 MBps REDCODE streams you could send down the 9.08 Gbps pipe, or the 100 Gbps pipe! (some math major here will come up with it for sure...)

Efficient and cost-effective delivery is critical to distribution revenue streams - and that trickles down to all of us in the form of increased opportunity for distribution and revenue. Art is art - but the distribution of our art is a critical element of our business, whether we're a gigantic studio or network, a boutique shop, or an indie one-person operation.

[PaulClements]

Yeah...imagine how many simultaneous 27 MBps REDCODE streams you could send down the 9.08 Gbps pipe, or the 100 Gbps pipe! (some math major here will come up with it for sure...)

Just under 463 for the 100Gbps?... probably wrong

[Hrvoje Simic]

Interesting news. I just hope the technology gets implemented in near future, and not in ten or more years from now. So many possible uses of that bandwith.....

[PaulClements]

The problem is getting the theatres to install the equipment, afterall who pays for it? The studios are afterall the ones who benefit, perhaps we'll see companies in a similar vein to the mobile networks putting in pipes and supplying the equipment to cinemas and then charging the studios to feed their movies direct. Maybe Jim's got his eye on this he's already got the projector coming so there is part of the necessary equipment for cinemas, whoever wins out and controls a majority of the network will make serious bucks.

[J. Bernard Vallon]

I remember a thread a while ago discussing a problem:

The filmcrew would be shooting around the world with REDs (or so was the plan) and they needed a portable, efficient, fast way to backup data. The thoughts were a) tape drive and mail tapes home b) clone REDdrives and mail THEM home c) go back to video.

Someone suggested something like this as a fourth option. Because we are talking about pure data, just send the data over a high-bandwidth pipe, verify the copy, and hand it on a drive to the studio back at home. This sounds like we're moving closer to that. Awesome.

[kmikami]

On a serious note that is great news. The studios ought to be grinning like mad.

Yeah, I'm sure the studios are really excited at the prospect of instant bittorrent downloads! :sarcasm:

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Xbox 360 will feature native IPTV support by the end of the year. Excpect to see comcast etc touting a "free xbox 360!" instead of a boring old cable box.

Home digital distribution is almost here.

[PaulClements]

Yeah, I'm sure the studios are really excited at the prospect of instant bittorrent downloads! :sarcasm:

The pipes the studio intend on using are all encrypted apparently. Traditional pirating of movies will still be most likely. To the studio, not having to produce all the reels and distribute them by hand means a couple of things to them, firstly they can deliver at the very last minute leaving it less likely a third party would be able to release the movie early as a pirate, ala starwars, and secondly the cost of putting each movie in each cinema ought to be a lot less. Problems foreseen include getting that equipment into cinemas, and smaller theatres eventually being ostrasized because of the lack of funds to install such equipment and therefore not receiving the movies. But like I say I think a company will arise that does the whole shabang... Projector, Server and Pipe feed, and effectively give the hardware to cinemas. They will then own the distribution to that cinema or group of cinemas and can charge the studios dependent on the size of the network they wish to cover. Larger theatre chains might even try to operate this network for themselves.

[Jeremy Hughes]

Gee, and I'm still living with Dial-Up.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Gee, and I'm still living with Dial-Up.

So are tens of millions of other internet users. Dial-up is still the predominant form of access, even in the USA. Most dial-up users have no other choice simply because telecomm providers will not expand to offer service everywhere it's needed. There is always satellite based internet, but IMNSHO, it sucks. With satellite, upload speeds are no faster than dial-up and sat connections also suffer from lower latency than most dial-up connections. Not to mention, they're rather expensive.

Internet-2 or the second generation internet is a topic that rears its head every few years. Many of the companies who founded the consortium and movement over 10 years ago are no longer around today, but the movement is still there. For now it's more of a pipe dream... For it to happen, the real innovation needs to come in the form of low-cost, easy to deploy infrastructure, something the current internet and IP technology out there is completely lacking.

For feature films, I would say there's a far greater chance of satellite distribution in the near future than an ultra high bandwidth, ground-based Internet-2. Sure, it's going to happen and it will happen, but pushing 9Gbps 20K meters is a far cry from actually delivering a real-world IP system that can deliver to real businesses and residences. ...It's a start. I'd be happy if we could get a 10Gbps IP system running inside an office location for a reasonable price. $2400 per interface card and $15K for an 8-port switch isn't reasonable, IMO.