Sure, the researchers at Alcatel-Lucent have already sent data 50 miles at 25.6Tbps, but it looks like now they’re going for distance rather than speed: the company announced yesterday that it’s now pumped bits over a 1584-mile long link at 16.4Tbps. Sure, that’s slightly slower than the record, but being able to firehose bits at distances like that is even more impressive, if you ask us (you didn’t). The core tech is essentially the same as used in the earlier speed record: bundling several 100Gbps optical signals at different wavelengths into one multiplexed transmission, shooting it down fiber, and splitting it up at the end. This latest test used 164 different channels and updated transmitters and multiplexers to hit the record — which is fine and all, but guys, if you’re using that old school 25.6Tbps gear anymore we know a few people who are interested.

[Via Slashdot]

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