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Canada Builds World's Fastest Network

jd writes "Canada has just constructed an all-optical network, CA*Net3, capable of 80 gigabits per second (though being expanded to 20 terabits per second). This is over 60 times faster than the Internet 2 project, and according to the description, this will be open to the public, rather than closed as Internet 2 is. Anyone in Canada interested in building the world's most distributed high-performance Beowulf?"

184 comments

  1. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by expunged · · Score: 1

    Are you serious? Canada, a third world country!? That's news to me, and certainly news to Canada.

    "That far north". What country do YOU think borders the US on the north? Have you ever BEEN in the northern US or anywhere NEAR Canada?

    Do you really think there's some imaginary line that's drawn between the US and Canada where one second (in the US) it's warm, bright, sunny and technological and the next (in Canada) it's dark, cold, barren and they live in igloos?

    That'd be a fun dance.
    Canda (brr)
    US (ooh)
    Canada (bo-ring)
    US (ooh)

    *snort*

    Join the weather channel. They don't think Canada "exists" either (the weather just *stops* at the border!).

    -nicole

  2. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just to add to that, Brantford, Ontario is in Canada.

  3. Re:... and jello, poutine, and pepsi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and you us/american?

  4. Internet on this? by dufke · · Score: 1

    Is this new network being used for normal internet traffic as well? If not, why not? I mean, this kind of bandwidth would actually allow cable/ASDL/LAN users to use the whole bandwidth of their connection, rather than 10-50% as today...

    I'm just wondering what my ping in Q3A would be on this network... ;-)

    dufke
    ________________________________

    --
    __
    Comment submitted. There will be a delay before you understand what you posted.
  5. European network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So? I posted a story a couple of months ago about a petabit (that's 1000 terabit) network across europe.

  6. Re:eh, you don't get it! by Joe+MacDonald · · Score: 1

    Admittedly it's been a year since I lived in New Brunswick, and when I did, it was in Fredericton, not St. John, but the rates for fibre into your house were pretty prohibitive at the time. I looked into it and decided that my USR wasn't so bad after all. Especially when I saw what passes for "cable" modems there. ugh.

    I agree that NBTel is pretty good about bringing new technology to the homes, but it still wasn't there a year ago, my Roger's connection is a _lot_ better than any of the connections my old friends in NB have. (And that should speak volumes for anyone living in Ottawa.)

    --
    -Joe
  7. Re:eh? by Joe+MacDonald · · Score: 1

    Eh. Why is American beer served cold?

    So you can tell it from piss.

    ;-)

    --
    -Joe
  8. 5000 Node Beowulf Cluster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IndyBox is creating a 5,000 node Beowulf cluster according to LinuxToday.com, News.com, Freshmeat.net, Wired.com, biz.Yahoo.com, and about a million other sites.

    Can you imagine 100,000,000Tflops over this kind of network fabric?

  9. 40? Try a 5,000 Node Beowulf Cluster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to several hundred news sites on the 'net, IndyBox has a 5,000 node Beowulf cluster. Yes, I said five thousand.

    5,000 nodes = 100,000,000 Tflops?

  10. Re:Impressive -- now I can throw out the cable mod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I remember about CA*Net in Canada is that there are two really bad connctions to the rest of the Internet -- one in Vancouver and one in Toronto. So, I guess if you want to talk to other Canadians, you'll have plenty of BW to do it, but don't expect you'll be able to talk any better outside Canada.

  11. Re:It doesn't look that way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ummm...I don't mean by percentage. For the social security and all of that, that money goes to every citizen. The money spent on the military and such covers a less amount of people. It's still something like 250 billion a year (I think it is higher than that but I don't remember exactly).

    They don't include statistics for corporate subsidies...interesting. A lot of extra money is also funded through the Pentagon for purposes other than military use.

  12. Re:It doesn't look that way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I mean by every citizen, is by paying the taxes, if you live to that certain age, you'll get money back. For paying for the military and related things, you will not get any of that back, or any of your fellow citizens, unless they end up going into the military.

    You can argue we need it to protect us. I agree to some extent we need a military for PROTECTION and possibly some for offensive just in case, but all of this intervention bullshit is outrageous...and fighting wars for US/western corporations (typically oil and in south america, so they can set up slave labor factories). I don't want my money spent on this shit.

  13. it's time to move! by swonkdog · · Score: 1

    19990829-1051.42

    well, i always said that the canadians would (and in fact are) invade(ing) the united states. they can have it. with bandwidth like that i'm heading north. everyone may complain that it's cold up there, so what, it's hot as hell down here in florida. just think of it, i won't even need an industrial air conditioning unit to keep my machines cool. i can open the windows and use a ceiling fan! 8^)
    as for what to use the bandwidth for, i don't know just yet, how about an amazing 42,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 player quake 3 arena game? anyone interested? now i just need a server farm for the needed processing power and my personal powerplant to power them all! ahhhh! just thinking about it makes me spooge...

  14. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by TeknoDragon · · Score: 1

    Hmmm, I wonder what else comes from Canada?

  15. Destruction of the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WooHoo. This should help put a damper in Gore's plan to destroy the Internet. I live less than a mile from a University with a connection to Gore's new network. Atleast once a week, the local paper runs an article about how the Internet is in decline and the Internet2 is quickly replacing it. I want to see more stories like this, because I'm tired of seeing the "Internet is going out of business" articles and last week at a wedding several of my relatives scolded me for working for a company that deals with the "old Internet." They're afraid I'm going to be out of a job soon when all of the customers move to the new one. Hah!

  16. eh, you don't get it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, that fibre network is lightning fast. But your house won't be connected to it. It just makes a nice infrastructure to build the canadian internet. You'll still need to deal with an ISP to bring the internet to your house. And when it comes to your house, most likely, you'll be using either a telephone line or cable (same as TV). And those 2 links will never have the bandwidth of fibre.

    If you want fast networking AT YOUR HOME, go to New Brunswick. Their whole phone system is in optic fibre and they have fast internet access available in every home.

    1. Re:eh, you don't get it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, don't knock that guy too hard. Lessee... y'all Canucks will have the fastest network. Y'all have...1/10th? the population of the US. You'll have more capacity than you can imagine, per capita. It will make silly artificial restrictions on a person's connect speed like 14.4kbps dialups. Or even cable modems. Unless, of course, you're gonna use it to route US traffic between the left and right coasts... And lets not forget that someone probably has routers for it that do a Babelfish-like duplication and translation of english-containing packets to French-containing packets, so maybe there IS a real reason behind such huge bandwidth. French-to-English packet translation? Oh, an oversight, of course.

  17. its the cold that makes it go fast. by orKiD · · Score: 1

    you know what? stick you computer outside in the winter, and see if you can overclock it more! heh.. maybe that's why we can have the fastest networks lol (its 31C outside now, if you don't know what Celcius is, join the world and learn it)..

    hmm, Canada is actually awesome for new technology to the public. I'd say its probably b/c its so widely spread, w/o that many people, we need a way to connect. so what better place to intro some new tech =8) there's a lot of room for it too (physically).. and a lot of places that aren't hooked up yet.

    1. Re:its the cold that makes it go fast. by palerider · · Score: 1

      it's about 42 here... (Dallas)

  18. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Joe+Schmo · · Score: 1

    A great line about Canadians inventing the phone first goes like this...

    "How come we know we created the phone first?
    That day we called the U.S. and nobody answered"


    Just having a bit of fun, as I am sure the original U.S. poster was, or hope.

    Besides, nobody could be that ignorant / stereotypical...could they? Hmmm, I wonder.





  19. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Face it Canada she minus well be a third world country.

    We have to be the most underachieving nation in the world. Are gov is incompetent and a lacky to are little brother to the south. then not to mention certain provicial govs have turned their provinces in to little fascist states.

    The most amazing thing about this new net is not the speed or tech but that it has not been
    scrapt yet.

    Like I said are gov is incompetent, they seem to have a big problem anytime canadians get ahead of the world.

  20. Re:map not accurate by Monkey · · Score: 1

    I don't think the map shown in this article is in any way accurate. I live in Whitehorse (on the map) and I know for a fact all we've got running out of town right now is a T-3 over microwave.

  21. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, Canada is not as much a first world country as the US. According to the UN reports on life quality, Canada is more first world than the US. BTW, I'm neither Canadian nor american.

  22. Re:Peep! by dphrag · · Score: 1

    Actually... on the canarie website, they have a probably accurate graphic.. Now it doesn't include Edmonton (*weep*).

  23. Re:Peep! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the map on ABCNews is bogus - How can they have a fibre link from Yellowknife direct to Halifax?! the real map

  24. Re:They have this great big network for what? by Stone99 · · Score: 1

    Simple. We're the second largest country with about the 100th largest population (somewhat less than the other CA down south). Sending lots of information a long way really quick is kind of a specialty of ours.

    --
    -- I'm sure this is amusing to someone.
  25. Question? by HaKn5La5H · · Score: 1

    Is this just a super-backbone that connects to everyones 56k's or will this speed go directly to each home?

  26. Canada Kicks Ass! by Canada+Kicks+Ass · · Score: 1

    Canada Kicks Ass!

    Jealously is not a virtue.

  27. Re:What a disappointing argument! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How does an invasion or an act of vandalism disqualifies a country from being in the third world class? Well, really it dosen't, but the invasion was done by the U.S., burning Washington was part of the retaliation. Then of course, the U.S. got back at us by convincing our Government to cancel all of it's effective military projects like the Avro Arrow. In revenge for that, we sent you William Shatner. My only worry is that if this whole thing just keeps escalating like it has been, we could all be doomed.

  28. eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So we got the world's fastest network, eh? You American posers! Let's go watch "Strange Brew".

    1. Re:eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      canadian beer sucks!

    2. Re:eh? by Neble+Cutheez · · Score: 1

      It's better then American Piss water, I mean Beer

    3. Re:eh? by inf0c0m · · Score: 1

      beauty, now we can download dem mp3's of british new wave bands eh.

    4. Re:eh? by matt[0] · · Score: 1

      Americans should be mindful of themselves before making negative comments about Canadians. We have semi-free health care, and much less in-breeding.

      --
      --------- Matt
    5. Re:eh? by Digital_Fusion · · Score: 1

      To paraphrase monty python:

      Q: What does American beer and having sex in a canoe have in common?

      A: They're both f**king near water.

  29. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by HappyHead · · Score: 1

    Join the weather channel. They don't think Canada "exists" either (the weather just *stops* at the border!).

    Nope, if you look at those weather channel maps closely, you'll see that everything north of the U.S. border is white, which is because everything north of the U.S. border is burried under a ton of snow. (Honest! I can't even see out my window because of all that snow, and it's on the second floor! Really!) How exactly we manage to have that much snow when it's so darn hot out is beyond me, but when I look north across the border, I see that Detroit hasn't got any snow at all. Weird, eh?
    (For those who don't know, Detroit (in Michigan) is north of Windsor (in Canada).)

  30. Japanese Internet? by Bug-Man · · Score: 1

    Weren't the Japanese going to create an internet that went 1000 times faster than what we have right now?

    1. Re:Japanese Internet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't these speeds be a problem for TCP/IP? I seem to remember reading that the TCP/IP stack must buffer all incoming packets until they have been acknowledged. At 80Gb/sec if we suppose that two computers have latencies of 1ms, this would mean that the receiving computer would have to have enough RAM to buffer 80Mb (10MB) of information. If the latency were 10ms it would have to buffer 800Mb (100MB). So wouldn't latency at some point become the limiting factor to transmission speed, and not the bandwidth of the connection?

  31. Re:Now, to peeve the spooks. by HappyHead · · Score: 1

    Now that we've got this giant "library-in-a-second" capacity, we've got to fill it with piles of encrypted traffic.

    But this is Canada... our government encourages that sort of thing...

  32. Whoo-Hoo! by schon · · Score: 1

    Cool... I live just 8 blocks from the fastest network in the world..

    Hmm... I wonder how the best way to tap into that would be :) (I'd probably have to move down the street :)

  33. Human Genome Project by sallgeud · · Score: 1

    Maybe it's just me, but if they're going to connect several of the largest machines together on this network to help calculate for the Genome project... maybe they should write a piece of distributed computing software to get the entire world involved. Follow in the footsteps of SETI.

    Imagine using even 1% of the world's computing power. You'd have most of the genome project finished before the end of next year.

    If anyone knows who to contact.... I'm more than willing to give them a call.

    1. Re:Human Genome Project by McFarlane · · Score: 1

      That's an intersting idea. Is it lack of processing time that is slowing down the Human Genome Project? Or something else?

      --
      [We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
  34. StCathrines by Kancer · · Score: 1

    Is there any other place in Montreal then StCathrines Street?

  35. Impressive -- now I can throw out the cable modem by Gryphon · · Score: 1

    Wow. I had no idea this existed, and I live in Canada and am a Computer Science major.

    Maybe this means my university will scrap those stupid 14.4 dial-ups I used to have to use.

    Hmmm... Rogers, if you are listening, maybe it's time to reduce those cable modem rates?

  36. Technological silliness by Madwand · · Score: 1

    Everyone forgets that in computer neworking, delay (latency) is deadly - it's time that you can't get back. For Beowulf clusters to be effective across the widest range of parallel problems, they have to be packed together as closely as possible, to keep the node-to-node delays down to a minimum. Put another way: the more node-to-node communication required, the more that trivial increments in node-to-node communication delay will suck serious multiples of performance from the application.

    A Canada-wide Beowulf cluster might work fine for RC5-64 cracking or SETI@HOME, but only because those problems require essentially no node-to-node communication, and the work-sets per node can be set arbitrarily large.

    As for Canarie, they did a silly thing: they're using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), when they could be using raw SONET or SDH instead. ATM eats ten percent of the bandwidth right off the top, without adding any value at all. What could you do with an additional 8Gb/s out of the original 80Gb/s?

  37. Welcome to the 20th Century by The+Future+Sound+of · · Score: 1

    It's encouraging to see the strides that Canada and other third world countries have been making recently.

    I honestly didn't realize that computers had made it that far north. Of course, where there are computers there's Gates. Don't let Canada become just another extension of Mikkkrosoft!

    Welcome and Fight the Power!



    1. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by fougasse · · Score: 1

      Judging from these replies, Canadians (like me) don't seem to have a sense of humour. It was a JOKE, people! Notice the moderation of "Funny"!

      Anyway, the only appropriate response, joke or not, is a flood of American jokes (up here in the frozen north, we pass our time by telling Newfie and Yankee jokes, named after a Canadian province and North American country, respectively, whose inhabitants' stupidity is very funny). And please forget about the how-dare-you, we-invented-the-phone, we-burnt-down-the-white-house reactions.

    2. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Canuckle+Head · · Score: 1

      speaking as a Canadian I'd just like
      to voice my support for a dictatorship
      (fascist or otherwise).

      i believe they'll be able to get the all
      these potholes fixed in a more timely manner.

      fix the roads and then on to the ethnic cleansing.
      (you know who you are, better start packing).

    3. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm... I dunna know. Just look at where your major population centers are in relation to the Canada-US border... So, yeah, a line drawn to the north of Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal is probably sufficient, eh? So you're saying that life in Yellowknife isn't very third-worldish compared to, say, Abbotsford (the town with the most bitchin' air show on the west coast)? So what about the WEather channel. They don't think [nor do probably 90% of Americans, unfortunately] Mexico exists, either, unless there's a hurricane in the Caribbean or off Baja California... Does the Weather Channel make their audience, or does the audience make the Weather Channel?

    4. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As much as I might want to live in Canada, though, one cannot escape that although I, as an American, could probably make on paper more in Canada than the US, the anti-foreigner income tax would kill me, as would the increased cost of living, exchange rates included...

      Having grown up on a border town (Bellingham, WA) it is interesting to go to a grocery store, and see Canadians stocking up on basics [milk, etc.], and still come out ahead paying duty when they go back...

    5. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Lost+One · · Score: 1

      Just a word to the wise that grouping ppl by stereotype doesn't work whether serious or not. By your comment you have already proven that you are the more stupid compared to Newfie's or Yankee's. As for the comment about Canada...
      like someone said, wherever you go there will be those who are educated and those who are not.

      Some people are just too arrogant for their own good, and I also believe you fall into the latter category.


      Lost One (Newfie)
      B.Sc Comp. Sci.
      Video Game Progammer

    6. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ya, an OS with full strength encryption out of the box and is secure too for a change.

    7. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by supz · · Score: 1

      But Canada doesn't exist. The governments of the world just tell us it is "there" so we don't find out about where they moved Area51 to.

    8. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are an idiot.

    9. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The UN "quality of life" ranking is a little suspect due to the way it deals with GDP. The US's higher GDP gets "compressed" much more than Canada's and thus gives Canada an advantage. Never-the-less, I prefer to live in Canada (I have lived in both countries).

    10. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's so degrading about being called Third world? Do you concider third world to be all those poor, black, african, asian countries? How racist does that sound?

    11. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Joheines · · Score: 1

      Actually, Philipp Reis, a German inventor, invented the telephone. G. Bell reinvented it about 20 years later.

    12. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Manuka · · Score: 1

      For all you ignorant americans out there, Canada has more tech jobs per capita than the US does... And that's DESPITE the brain drain to the south side of the border.

    13. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by tomblackwell · · Score: 1

      "It's encouraging to see the strides that Canada and other third world countries have been making recently. "

      Canada is the only country to ever invade the US and burn its capitol to the ground. Look up in your history books and you will find that's why your white house was hastily painted white.

      Now if you want to call the country that did that "third world", go ahead.

    14. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In other words.. countries with great minds.. thous that the US wish to suck in..

    15. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by twist · · Score: 1

      We're still trying to figure out how to get electric heat in our igloos...

      They keep melting.

      Oup... gotta go help my mom.. she's getting chased down by a polar bear!#$!#

    16. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      those plus russia and the rest of the former coutnries that evolved from the ussr :].

    17. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by mfi · · Score: 1

      We should be very careful about making too many jokes about Canadians, they have BIG plans :)

      http://cwd.ptbcanadian.com/

      --Mark

    18. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by cwhiz · · Score: 1

      Don't blame this guy. He is just a regular ignorant american, like every other american. He probably dropped out of high school, before he learned to pin point the second largest country in the world.

    19. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 1

      It was only 4 years before, in 1861. It doens't matter though, Bell was the one who put it in everyones house. I'm sure there are tons of useful inventions that will never see the light of day as they sit in research laboratories an basements, like all of Tesla's "useful" inventions. Totally and completely worthless as far as the human condition at large is concerned.

      --
      by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
    20. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not all Americans are Yankees! Go to Georgia and try calling someone a Yankee!

    21. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And here I am still travelling across the tundra to school via dogsled...

    22. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How DARE you call Canada a Third World Country? Did you know that the US and Canada share norad facilities? Canada is as much of a first world country ad the US is. I am a dual citizen (Canada and the US)...... Harry (micros@azstarnet.com)

    23. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by bbad · · Score: 1

      I wonder sometimes if the Americans even know where the first phone call was made. Ever heard of Brantford ON. and Alexander G. Bell?

      I guess not, the dog sled team hasn't made it down that far yet!!!! Probably got ambushed by Polar Bears.



    24. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      really, I coulda sworn that norad was a us idea. and that canada is using our launch pads for their space missions cause they're too far north.... eh?

    25. Re:Welcome to the 20th Century by Shrubbman · · Score: 1

      How DARE you call Canada a Third World Country? Did you know that the US and Canada share norad facilities? Canada is as much of a first world country ad the US is. I am a dual citizen (Canada and the US)...... Harry (micros@azstarnet.com)

      Just let it go, the ignorant twits who compromise a large percent of the US population do not concern us. The intelligent one's down there know better than these morons. Let the silly people parade around making themselves think they're so great while those with better things to do, will.

  38. I doubt anyone cares: details by cyphunk · · Score: 1

    Doubt any one cares about details this late in the stage but

    They are going to do this using WDM, creating 32 different channs on the wire using different colors

    l8r
    - cyphunk

    PS: This twiddler is freaking hard to type on!

  39. fiberoptics by sfs11 · · Score: 1

    Last school year I gave a report for my class on fiberoptic networking... if I remember correctly, they're doing preliminary tests in Atlanta Georgia on this sort of high speed hookup... if someone has any new information on this, I'd be very interested! I haven't heard any more about it since perhaps May. Do you guys think this sort of networking could potentially replace cable modems anytime soon? I know I'd subscribe! =)

    --

  40. Re:Canada's just gearing up for slashdot. by Pope · · Score: 1

    That's backslashdot.ca you.. you.. you.. guy!

    --
    It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
  41. Re:Please tell me you're not in university. by fougasse · · Score: 2

    Are gov is... a lacky.

    Are skool sistem, on the uthur hand, teeches speling verry wel.

  42. Uncompressed Video by heroine · · Score: 1

    An 80 gig network would never pass in the USA. Maybe in the Werner Von Braun age we would spend $billions on government projects but you can't even get $1 million for a satellite nowadays. In a way we're a lot more careful than other countries. The problem is that the CS majors who write internet software are more interested in the high bandwidth itself, seeing 1Meg/sec on their downloads, than devising any novel uses for it.

  43. Re:Info from the canarie site by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 1
    What they need now is applications for the network, if you're a student, tell your prof and see if you can't get something started!

    pr0n!
    -russ

    --
    Don't piss off The Angry Economist
  44. Wait, the Germans had the fastest network by kRutOn · · Score: 1
    Well, I thought the Germans had the fastest network.
    SIEMENS TRANSMITS 3.2 TBPS ON A FIBER -- 80 CHANNELS AT 40 GBPS
    Researchers at Siemen's Transport System Laboratories set a new record for optical data transmission on a single optical fiber: 3.2 terabits/second over a distance of 40 km. The demonstration transmitted 80 wavelengths of 40 Gbps channels generated using an Electronic Time Division Multiplexing ETDM system developed by Siemens.
    http://www.siemens.co m/ic/networks/news/icmore/en/events2.htm
    Siemens, August 9, 1999
    1. Re:Wait, the Germans had the fastest network by mindstrm · · Score: 1

      Yeah.
      Fastest network != fastest networking technology.
      We are talking about really building a production network, not some lab test results.

    2. Re:Wait, the Germans had the fastest network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3.2 terabits/second over a distance of 40 km

      Ummm, I hate to break the news to ya, but the Canadian network is much much larger than that. What the Germans have done is just raised the speed over a SINGLE fibre. Let me know when they've got routers and switches to handle several connections.

  45. Chicago? by Mr.+X · · Score: 1

    Chicago is listed on that map. WTF?

    1. Re:Chicago? by McFarlane · · Score: 1

      Welcome to Canada Chicago. MWAHAHAHA!
      That's one down.

      --
      [We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
    2. Re:Chicago? by CrezzyMan · · Score: 1

      lots of big bandwidth providers have GigaPOPs (some of them more than one) in Chicago, so it's the best place to link up CA*Net III to the rest of the world.

      --
      ->www.chuma.org, ranting and Newtons, what more could you want?
    3. Re:Chicago? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      their gonna need alot more than a single GigaBit southbound provider to really use the fibre backbone... and who is this single southbound provider? Are they really capable of handling an entire coutries bandwidth through a single US POP that also has other Canadian POPs? no, i don't really like the idea of Bell running the show for CA*NET3... ADSL sux this bad, i can't imagine 20TBit fibre :\

    4. Re:Chicago? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just remember, it doesn't matter about the fibre, just what hardware you put on the ends of it.

  46. What? since when is Canada a third world country? by ReelBigKeV · · Score: 1

    If Canada were a third world country i'd be drinking piss water and eating rice and I sure as hell wouldn't have a computer! Damn!

  47. Re:... and jello, poutine, and pepsi by McFarlane · · Score: 1

    aujourd'hui.... c'est Pepsi!

    GO HABS!
    ON Y VA!

    --
    [We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
  48. Do not disrespect the Arrow by McFarlane · · Score: 1

    Please do not show any disrespect to the Avro Arrow. Thank you. The man says it was doing Mach 2. It was bloody well doing Mach 2 - or pretty well Terrence-and-Philliping close. The biggest what if in Canadaian history. Our national trauma. Where were you the day the Arrow was scrapped? Too bad PET wasn't PM when the Arrow was around. He wouldn't have scrapped it. He would've flown one around himself. (Not that PET didn't have his faults - it just would've been cool.)

    --
    [We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
    1. Re:Do not disrespect the Arrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PET is responsible for everything that is wrong with Canada. Had he never been in power, Canada would be without a doubt the greatest country in the world. (with or without the UN saying it - which means nothing)

  49. Re:What a disappointing argument! by tomblackwell · · Score: 1

    It was retribution for an invasion by those itchy-trigger-fingered Americans.

    Canada doesn't really go for beating up on other countries.

    We try pretty hard to stay with the peacekeeper role. America seems to go with the enforcer role.

    Canada just likes to remind the US that it doesn't win all of its fights. (And that winning a fight isn't that important, anyway).

  50. Re:What? since when is Canada a third world countr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, there is nothing wrong with rice. Methiks that was a sideways remark at asians. In either case, rice is goes with ANYTHING. Lamb chops, steaks, kebobs, pork chops, beans, potatos, chicken, you name it, it would taste better on a bed of rice.

  51. There's so much more... by McFarlane · · Score: 1

    The goalie mask
    Pablum for babies
    the paint roller
    the snowmobile
    Standard Time (i.e. modern system of time zones)
    1/2 of Superman
    The electric $^#%^ing light bulb!!! (1874) (Canadian Henry Woodward sold a share in his patent to Thomas Edison, who designed a more practical bulb in 1879. However, later on another Cdn Reginald Fessenden invented an even better version and its *his* model we *still* use today around the world. Edison was a middle man between two canucks baby!)

    voice over radio
    the best screwdriver: "the robertson"
    sonar
    many cancer-causing (oops) insect repellants
    the Polyethylene Garbage Bag (can anyone say landfill?)
    the Franks anti-gravity suit (G-suit) - (used by Allied WW2 pilots - later developed into more advanced G-suits)
    IMAX movies
    Trivial Pursuit
    The Java programming language (in the US supported by US coworkers and a US multinational giant)
    The Canadarm robotic space arm thing
    the rollerskate
    Insulin treatment for diabetics
    the walkie-talkie
    snowblower
    electric streetcar
    poutine
    insulated coverings for indoor skating rinks
    the zamboni
    kerosene fuel
    the McIntosh apple
    Greenpeace
    The English Patient (sorry guys)
    shooting down the Red Baron
    the idea of U.N. peacekeepers (blue helmets to you Euro-types)
    wood-pulp paper (i.e. modern "paper")
    *universal* medicare (Sask. was the first)
    Nanaimo Bars
    the heart pacemaker (an American later invented one that was much much smaller and could be implanted in the body - definately an improvemnt on the (very big) original)
    the kidney dialysis machine
    the electron microscope
    ginger ale
    Oka cheese (yum its so good I'm eating some right now as I hum the gens du pays)

    gotta go (yes, I realize doing this was sad)















    --
    [We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
  52. Re:Hard drive? by dlb · · Score: 1

    80Gbit doesnt mean you have all 80Gbit piped right into your house/dormroom/basement.

    It just means that T1s and T3s will be provisioned much much cheaper, and your system surely can handle 1.5Mb or 45Mb easily.

  53. Re:canada, eh? by skelly · · Score: 1

    Ya! You forgot to mention all the actors and comics who make Hollywood worthwhile. Remember the "Canadian Conspiracy"? Lorne Greene and Lorne Michaels? We also make the world's most secure operation system and the best verion of BSD-UNIX.
    Makes me kinda proud, eh?

    --
    Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes, they go the 'ouse? It says Romans go home. No it doesn't. What's Latin fo
  54. Infinite wavelengths. by mal · · Score: 1

    Infinite number wavelengths does not imply infinite bandwidth, the max thoretical bandwidth for an optical fiber is on the order of several 100Tb/s, still pretty big. Ok, back to the fun
    stuff...

  55. Corporate Subsidies, Acronyms groups, and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe if our government stopped spending so f-cking much on the military, corporate subsidies, and money for the many acronym groups (FBI, CIA, DEA, FCC, FTC, NSA, etc.), we'd be able to afford things like this. Don't let pro-military politicians fool you, the problem isn't spending a bit of money on people in poverty so they don't live in misery and die young...an overwhelming greater amount of money is spent on these things.

    I'm just glad the military hasn't decided to take over the US yet. Who would stop them...we've given them so damn much...no one on earth could even put a dent into our military force. our only hope would be for people, including those in the military, to turn against it...but people's minds are easily manipulated and they'd likely be convinced they're doing the right thing. I doubt all of those soldiers in Nazi Germany had deep hatred of Jewish people in the very early 20th century...yet somehow they ended up being part of a force that had for one of it's goals to extinguish a certain ethnic group.

  56. Re: Canadian Beer by Tony-A · · Score: 1

    I still remember beer strikes during the summer (many years ago) when I was in Canada. The pits was when they ran out of everything Canadian and had to import from the states.

  57. Re:Bandwidth could earn money in the meantime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, that's a good one :-) I'll bet he is _serious_ too!

    I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type... Until we need the bandwidth. Such wonderful arrogance, it must be quite an experience of `self' to be an american!

    J.
    Oh, that just makes my day, we all need a good joke now and again

  58. More CA* net 3 information links by Zirizui · · Score: 1

    For complete details, consult http://www.canet2.net/
    the NOC for this network

  59. canada, eh? by supz · · Score: 0

    This could be the only good thing to ever come out of Canada. Some may say bacon... but what is bacon? PIG! And remember... you are what you eat.

    Ok, bye.

    1. Re:canada, eh? by aonaran · · Score: 1

      And, though it is almost always overlooked, let's not forget the Robertson screwdriver (I hate those damned slot screws and Philips is nearly as bad)

      For you americans you might be able to find a Robertson driver at Sears (I saw one there once in the states) and ask your canadian buddies to send you some descent screws (they'll know what you mean).


    2. Re:canada, eh? by TeknoDragon · · Score: 1
    3. Re:canada, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look, the Avro Arrow did not reach mach 2, not even close, it made it to about 0.5mach on its test run in which it was planned to reach almost mach 2. It was a CBC made for tv movie that was mostly fiction that told us the plane was held back for some reason, and the producers admited the scean in which the plane reached Mach 2 was completely false with no historical backing at all. It is possible that the plane may have been able to reach mach 2, but it never did, and never will.

      Also for those of you who saw the movie and where led to believe that it could outperform the cf-18, i must tell you that this is a huge lie. Although the cf-18 cannot reach mach 2, there was no intention for that plane to ever reach that speed. Maneverability is what pilots now want, not the ability to reach russian bombers that have since been replaced with missils. (although the cf-18 has its problems)

      Had the Avro Arrow been able to/given opertunity to perform to the ability that it was believed, it would have been one of the most important Canadian engineering achievement, however it did not.

    4. Re:canada, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see you don't have an interest in world history, just the american version of it. Tisk tisk.

      i see that you don't have an intrest in world history, just the CBC vrsion of it

      maybe it was CTV, but either way your post is wrong, the avro arrow did not reach mach 2, it did not ever reach mach 1

    5. Re:canada, eh? by hackcess · · Score: 1

      Really? Canadians invented the Avro Arrow, the first aircraft to reach Mach 2+ (Americans were barely able to sustain Mach 1+). The Avro Arrow was the first aircraft which used the delta wing, a CANADIAN invention. When Avro Co. went bust (political in-fighting with the president of Avro and the Canadian prime minister lead to the literal destruction of these aircraft and their plans!) the americans hired all that Canadian brain power (instant visa's over night) to build their own military aircraft for Douglas, NASA, Boeing, etc - including the design for *your* space shuttle and the Concord. Bacon indeed.

      I see you don't have an interest in world history, just the american version of it. Tisk tisk.

    6. Re:canada, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dont forget basketball, and the scanning electron microscope, or open bsd-developed in calgary alberta because the americans choose a nazi-style encryption control.
      lets not bash our neighbors on the other side of the 49th.

    7. Re:canada, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about insulin? Ya know, Banting & Best... two Canadians at the UofT (Univ of Toronto for those of you who aren't Canucks)

    8. Re:canada, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, at my school (McGill) they invented Napalm,
      which the US still likes using to burn innocent
      civilians.

    9. Re:canada, eh? by Atomic+Frog · · Score: 1

      Oh, uh, let's see what else came from the Great White North....
      -Reginald Fessenden, Canadian transmits the worlds first voice message in 1900: AM Radio!
      -Avro's Jetliner was North America's first jetliner in 1949
      -IMAX projector & camera
      -standard time
      -the TELEPHONE
      -the electric cooking range
      -Pablum
      -Figher pilot's G-suits
      -World's first combine harvester
      -Pulp paper plants
      -Macinstosh Apples
      -Zippers
      -electron microscope
      -Cable TV
      -Basketball and Hockey
      -insulin
      -Vortex lamp, the world's brightest light source
      -the Avro Arrow and the Orenda Iroquois turbojet, which kicked ass on every other fighter in the world
      -the engineers from the Avro Arrow who went down to NASA to help get Neil on the moon
      -Captain Edwards (the first engineer+test pilot for which Edwards Airforce Base is named), Mr. Gosling of Java fame, James Cameron, of T1, T2 fame and also Titanic, only the most successful movie ever, Pamela Lee Anderson, Martin Short, Michael J. Fox, Mike Myers
      -the snowmobile
      -the electric wheelchair
      -Commodore 64's
      -the Wonderbra?
      -the Canadarm used on the shuttle
      -the safest and most efficient nuclear reactor designs in the world
      -the (questionable) V-Chip
      -the only country who knows how to build nukes and chooses not to
      -the No.#1 country in the world 6 years running

      Oh, is the list getting too long? I better stop for now. I'm sorry, I guess not everyone is privy to the fastest national network in the world.

    10. Re:canada, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > you are what you eat.

      Does that make you bullsh*t? (You're gonna have to eat your words, you see, after the lists of inventions above).

  60. Re:... and poutine and boomerang, mixed together.. by draggy · · Score: 1

    GO HABS GO! GO HABS GO!
    --
    Let's not all suck at the same time please

    --

    Let's not all suck at the same time please

  61. Re:What? since when is Canada a third world countr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    does that include seal meat and whale blubber? No, the rice remark wasn't a slam against asians. The truth is that rice is pretty much a staple in most of the "third" world countries, Asian and non-Asian, much more so than corn or wheat.

  62. Re:Now, to peeve the spooks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nah, the bandwidth will be sucked away by all those computers duplicating and translating non-French-containing packets through some Babelfish-like filter, thusly translating them to French.

  63. Re:Peep! by Tarnar · · Score: 1

    Aw crap! And I'm moving up there on Sat the 4th for University.. Guess the U of A won't be on this phat pipe =(

  64. Anybody here heard of Cambrian Systems? by mistered · · Score: 1

    First, this network is using wave division multiplexing with 8 wavelengths to reach the 80 Gbits/sec. The article mentions that the network will go to 2000 wavelengths, or 20 Tbits/sec, in the future. However, the whole point is not that this is about a "technology being developed" but rather that this technology is being deployed, now, as in a physical network actually exists.

    --
    Enjoy your job, make lots of money, work within the law. Choose any two.
    1. Re:Anybody here heard of Cambrian Systems? by irish_spic · · Score: 1

      yup, just acquired by Nortel. And you are right, Nortel currently leads in deployed bw.

      --
      A truth that's told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent. -- William Blake
  65. Don't drink bad beer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Brew your own beer. The spirit of Linux is DIY if you don't like what's available in the marketplace. The best beer I ever had was an IPA that I made myself. It's as easy as baking a cake. The hardest part is cleaning the bottles.

  66. Re: Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    toronto itself is not really that big, its metropolitan area is larger

  67. Re:Impressive -- now I can throw out the cable mod by CrezzyMan · · Score: 1

    of course, if you lived in residence in guelph (like me), you'd have a 10Mbps switched Ethernet connection right to your room. Yeah, res sucks, but cheap bandwidth is good.

    (non UofGers: 100% of UGuelph residence is wired like this BTW... and it only costs $100/semester)

    --
    ->www.chuma.org, ranting and Newtons, what more could you want?
  68. Trade Embargoes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, It'd probably be just our luck if the US suddenly decided to put a trade embargo on us unless we immediately cease production and through the remains into lake Superior forever. Hrmm, that's what they did when we developed a plane that was better than theirs, so why not. Our stupid Canadian polititions really mucked that one up. Oh well, I'll rebuild the planes someday, and then we'll go burn the whitehouse again. :) Troy

    1. Re:Trade Embargoes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol
      i do hope you mean this a joke, there is NO historical backing to this. The Arrow was droped because of price, and lack of performance. The movie was fiction.
      Your conspericy people scare me

    2. Re:Trade Embargoes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does your mail client have a spelling checker? You illiterate people make me laugh

  69. What's the TAX on bandwitdh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So motherfuckers.. how much would you tax this? 1 doller per MB?

  70. Looks old... by schon · · Score: 1

    That map is labeled "proposed".. (last updated Feb. 99)... isn't it supposed to be finished? ... maybe they made some changes?

  71. Can you afford $132/second for this? by weave · · Score: 1
    Let's see. Since this new backbone will be capable of transmitting the content of digital music, the next step will be for the Canadians to tax it at the rate of $132/second since you'll be capable of transferring about 14 audio CDs a second.

    And that is at uncompressed rates!

    Damn Canadians, them with their floppy little heads and beady little eyes. BLAME CANADA!

  72. They have this great big network for what? by Peyna · · Score: 1
    I'm just curious as to what the intended uses of this large fiber network are? I read the article, and still find it very unclear. I don't think Canada currently has any kind of capacity to qualify the need for this. It's a big waste of fiber optic cable that could be running to my house instead if you ask me.

    --
    What?
    1. Re:They have this great big network for what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell, I'd take anything better than a phone line running to _my_ house in Canada. Man, can't Bell do better than that yet? (Ok, Ok, I live but 5 mins away from a large city (in a Canadian sense). I guess I'm not "qualified" for cable, ADSL, ISDN, T1, anything...). Ho Hum, perhaps if I ordered 30 phone lines, Bell might want to negotiate? ;-)

  73. Re:first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hemos has boobies

  74. Weather? by Manuka · · Score: 1

    I always thought that was a high-tech weather barrier put up by the Ministry of the Environment to keep all that hot weather south of the border.

  75. Re:It doesn't look that way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Again, you have it backwards. Everyone benefits from living in a free country. This is the result of having a strong military. This sort of bs passiveness is what helped cause major wars this century. You bitch about military spending, but would rather bitch about an invasion and a dictatorship? Social Security et all only benefit those actually receiving the benefits. I suppose you could say having the peace of mind that if you need it, you will get it could be a benefit, but it's a lame one. I never expect to receive anything from SS. It will have gone broke long before I will be eligible for it. Also, the military is one of the few Constitutionally mandated parts of the Federal Budget. Everything else, IMHO is vote buying.

    The percentages were how much of the budget was spent in each area. There isn't a 'Corporate Subsidy' section of the budget. Such things are parts of the budgets of a wide range of departments.

  76. No telecos! by The+Babushka · · Score: 1

    Nice to see what can be done when you cut Ma' Bell out of the loop. Further proof that the telecos in the US are corrupt and don't serve the interest of their customers.

    First hockey, then comedians and musicians, now the world's fastest network. How do I move to emigrate?

    --
    -Computers hate being anthropomorphized.
  77. Beowulf and CaNet3 by doozer · · Score: 1

    And to think, i work in the Computer Group here at U of T, I live less then 200 feet away, and have have canet3 bandwidth. what more could i ask for.

  78. Re:What's the TAX on bandwidth? by ammo · · Score: 1

    Canada, land of happy taxpayers. Huh? IT jobs for half the pay. Gasoline for twice the price and twice the distance to get there. No need to trash this country, it's already done for you, and we'll pay you to notice.
    This message is from the End of the Line. And tomorrow I get my ADSL connection. No, there's nothing subsidized here. Nothing. We just pay and pay. And we LIKE it!
    There is no doubt the telecom utility will slap a buck a meg tax on data traffic, and we'll just sit there and take it. No history of revolution against taxation here. We LIKE monopolists!
    And at the same time, we practice survivalism on a permanent basis. We don't have to be wacos - I mean Wackos - to stock up on canned goods, rotate our stock, it's bred into us. A country that grew up on mail-order catalogs has been waiting a long time for the Internet to break through. So look out neighbours! A cultural bomb is about to blow!
    Dudley Do-right

  79. it is just the colour of your spectacles ;) by irish_spic · · Score: 1

    and don't get me throwing tomatoes at the centre of your being!

    what the heck was that?

    cheers

    --
    A truth that's told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent. -- William Blake
  80. Western Canadian with chip on shoulder by McFarlane · · Score: 1

    Hey I didn't say he did or did not do good things. I just said he "looked" good doing what he was doing. By the way, the NEP rocked on! An excellent example of things going the way they should IMHO. He he.

    --
    [We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
  81. Happy to have access to it. by Shokwave · · Score: 1

    I work at the University of Alberta and do work with the CanetII and CanetII syustems. While they are pulibc networks they are NOT commercial ones, check out the AUP on the site this link is for CanetII but will only change a little for CanetII to my understanding. Primarily access is given to educational institutions and research outfits which might benefit from and add quality to the the initiative. Although subject to change, it is a WDM GBE network connecting the different RANs (Regional Area Networks) together. Alberta is probably going to use dark fiber and light it up with multi-channel GBE as it's RAN backbone. All in all I feel this whole thing is pretty exciting and_I'M_ excited to be a part of it.

    --


    I love you... Ok I love you AND the UNIX operating system, but then I've know it longer.
  82. Feh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just love it when there's a story about some new network technology and a dozen people chime in about how they're going to ditch their cable modems. Don't get your hopes up.

    The equipment to route at those speeds is still too expensive to deploy in large quantities. Most of it's also relatively new and doesn't have a track record. (That's not to say it doesn't work; it just hasn't been out there a long enough to be classified as a workhorse.) First-tier ISPs aren't going to start dropping end users lines that come anywhere near the speeds of their backbones unless they're being paid top dollar for it. Sure, you're going to see people with fractional OC-3s simply because it's more practical than having multiple DS3s. Make it cheap enough for every Tom, Dick and Harry to afford it and your network will bog down as your oversubscription rate increases.

    Second-tier providers (which includes cable companies) aren't going to install hoses big enough to let their customers run full-time at full speed. The expense of something like a Juniper M40 and a fat pipe to a tier-1 ISP doesn't make for low monthly rates.

  83. Re:The Metric system is the tool of the devil! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and thats the way I likes it!

  84. RE Mega Cluster in Canada by BlackHat · · Score: 1

    Anyone in Canada interested in building the world's most distributed high-performance Beowulf?"
    Yes. I have been kicking this idea around for months. Any one else interested?
    Mail me or call me in Vancouver.

  85. Carleton U is cheaper! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At Carleton U, in Ottawa, reznet costs $140 for 2 semesters. It was really good during the summer (like 150K/sec transfers), but I'm afraid that as soon as school starts again, it'll drop like it was last year: max of about 20K/sec. Really, I'm much happier now that I live off campus: better bed, better food, faster inet link with a cable modem.

    1. Re:Carleton U is cheaper! by CrezzyMan · · Score: 1

      hrmm... across campus (ie. from my room to the CS buliding) I often run thwack into the 10Mbps ethernet limit... also grabbing MP3s from my friends at U of T at 800KB/sec over CA*Net2 was schweet... can't wait only eight more days until I move in!

      --
      ->www.chuma.org, ranting and Newtons, what more could you want?
  86. Working for an ISP is even better! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I get 100Mb/s to the desktop with multiple OC-3 connections across Canada and down to the US, plus they even pay me to work here! HA!

  87. Re:first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Roblimo wears a g-string

  88. Nice graphic by Craig+Davison · · Score: 1

    Funny how Whitehorse is fully connected, but Calgary isn't even on the map.

    Way to go, abcnews

  89. It doesn't look that way by ksheff · · Score: 1

    Got a 1040 tax instruction booklet from last year? Here's the breakdown:

    • Income
      • Personal Income taxes 46%
      • Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment 34%
      • Corporate Income Taxes 11%
      • Excise, customs, estate, gift and other misc taxes 8%
      • Borrowing 1%
    • Outlays
      • Social Security, Medicare, and other retirement 38%
      • National defense, veterans, and foreign affairs 20% (actual breakdown: defense 16%, veterans benefits 2%, military/economic assistance, maintenance of US embassies, etc 2%)
      • Social programs 18%
      • Interest on the national debt 15%
      • Physical, human, and community development 7%
      • Law enforcement and general government 2%
    If you look at the actual breakdown, we are spending more on social programs than on defense, and more on retirees than both combined. Your we spend so much money on defense line doesn't wash anymore. Since Clinton took office, spending on defense as a percentage of GDP has been halved.
    --
    the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
  90. Beowulf fetish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You act like linux is the first and only OS that can do clustering. Its not that new. Ever hear of a VAX cluster? They have been around since the early eighties. Linux being able to cluster is no big deal.

  91. You need routers. by BIFFSTER · · Score: 1

    I, who work for an unnamed NSP with an OC-48 backbone (that's over 2 Gigabits/sec), have seen that one of the major limitations isn't the bandwidth, but being able to route the damn packets. Nobody really has routers yet that are too terribly stable at that high a bandwidth.

    There's still a fair bit of dark fibre from the Qwest buildout, too...

    IMHO, what's going to be one of the major bottlenecks in domestic networks is the local loop that goes to your house and getting local fiber from the CO to elsewhere - not the backbones.

  92. Canadians got the mojo baby! by DjFilthyRich · · Score: 0

    More porn and faster to my dorm room...

    Way to go CANADA...!

    cats meow.. WATERLOO RAWKS!

  93. Using Canarie for ditrinuted rendering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The place I work is currently using this network to do distributed graphic rendering using NT :(. My next project is to loosely couple a bunch of Netwinders scattered across Canada using this network. When it's done I'll post some benchmarks.

  94. Peep! by Tarnar · · Score: 1

    Hehe..

    The graphic on the article.. Doesn't include Calgary. That's comical, Regina is on there but Calgary isn't.

    Hopefully it's just a case of not enough room on the pic ;-)

    1. Re:Peep! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or montreal, its funny that they left off Canadas two largest cities (without metropolitan areas). and montreal is Canadas second largest metropolitan area and Calgary is in the top five, But in canada cities less than 50,000 are more important than cities of 850,000 and >2,000,000 and don't try and say its capitals, because Vancouver is there

  95. Use the bandwidth to piss off the CRTC by thomasdelbert · · Score: 1

    I;ve got a good use for the bandwidth: Netcasting all of the radio and TV stations that the CRTC won't allow because they lack "Canadian Content" Anything that pisses off the CRTC is good for everyone!

    (I love seeing Edmonton on the map and not Calgary. Just makes my heart glow)

    BTW: Even without the CA*Net3, Canada is still more wired than the USA.

    --
    ___ This sig is in boldface to emphasize its importance!
  96. Canada's just gearing up for slashdot. by Ludd+Kilken · · Score: 1

    Perhaps Canada is just gearing up so they can submit canadian stories to slashdot without saturating there network.

    Or worse yet, canada puts up backslashdot.org and tries to backslashdot us.
    This could be the reason why slashdot was down last night and this morning!

    I think this is an act of war. :)

    --

    fou aje oym asoyf ueyf jaffaq afset su!6j!/\ op 'ua>|7!>| ppn7

    1. Re:Canada's just gearing up for slashdot. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nah.. we're getting you back for trying to execute Terrance & Philip! now there's an act of war!

  97. Info from the canarie site by Squiggle · · Score: 2
    For more info on Canadian networking check out: http://www.canarie.ca

    This is the first totally optical network, which is pretty awesome... it involved a number of companies and government organizations working together, here is a quote from the site:

    Cisco Systems Canada Co., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, will provide Cisco '12000's' which will in turn deliver the density, scalability and performance required to enable new multimedia applications for the new economy. JDS Fitel, a world leading supplier of fibre optics, will supply the key optical components needed to develop this optical Internet. Newbridge Networks, a world leader in communications networking, and Cambrian Systems Corporation, a Newbridge affiliate company, will provide leading-edge asynchronous transfer mode infrastructure equipment and advanced photonic networking solutions enabling the delivery of differentiated Internet Protocol services and other advanced, high-bandwidth applications. Nortel, the world's leading supplier of high-capacity optical networks, will supply infrastructure equipment for the project, enabling bandwidth-intensive IP traffic to be carried directly over optical channels on the WDM network.

    What they need now is applications for the network, if you're a student, tell your prof and see if you can't get something started!

    How sweet it is to be Canadian!

    --
    Complexity Happens
    1. Re:Info from the canarie site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      www.canet3.net looks like a better place to go.

  98. fsck beowulf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those 40 highpowered systems using CANet3 are probably (mostly) maxed out E10000's. What's that? 2500 some odd ultrasparc procs.

    --
    Just a Canadian

    "When cable modems are cheaper than dialup ISP's, you know you've got a cool country."

  99. They're already doing a distributed project, Rob.. by Derek+Pomery · · Score: 1

    The article mentions:
    Canada's national human genome project, an effort to map all the DNA in the human body, is using CA*Net3 to link 40 powerful computers to perform necessary calculations.

    --
    -- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"' /. ate my old sig. Bastards.
  100. Also check out http://www.canet3.net/ by Squiggle · · Score: 1
    The homepage for caNet3: http://www.canet3.net

    --
    Complexity Happens
  101. ALL N. American beer is crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've lived in both Canada and the USA. I can't tell the difference between their beers... they all taste like gnats piss. Only in Canada it's easier to get foreign beers with real flavour :)

    1. Re:ALL N. American beer is crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree that all N Am high volume beer is sh*t. Why not try some micro brewed beer that blows the doors off almost all imported stuff.

    2. Re:ALL N. American beer is crap by Axe · · Score: 1

      ..that blows the doors off almost all imported stuff.

      Only because good stuff is not imported. It is still piss compared to good German thing...

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    3. Re:ALL N. American beer is crap by ksp12 · · Score: 1

      ... and Czech beer is also worth considering

    4. Re:ALL N. American beer is crap by Axe · · Score: 0

      ditto.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
  102. Re:Bandwidth could earn money in the meantime by jsm · · Score: 1
    Oh, bite me, Mr. Anonymous J. You make American-bashers look like idiots. I wasn't saying anything bad about Canada.

    If you actually read the article, you'd know it pounded in the point that there was not local demand for the bandwidth that CA*Net3 provides. If the article's wrong, correct it, but don't blame me for responding to the article.

    I've always been impressed by my Canadian friends, remarkably insightful and well-educated. If you are Canadian, you sure are bringing down the average.

  103. Pullman Washington... by TeknoDragon · · Score: 1

    Ethernet in every dorm and 3 appartment complexes with 10Mbps ethernet. Well now, the university and two of those have to go through some state burocracy (called K20net) that's supposed to make internet to schools better but actually makes things pretty freaking slow. WSU also has/is getting Internet2 but that's only departmental access.

    So looks like the one appartment complex I'm in is has the best net access in Pullman... oh did I mention the rent didn't increase one bit as a result? Too bad the service is horrible. (someone want to help me set up a news box? they won't do it, but have the newsfeed)

  104. How about fractured Binary by psyklohps · · Score: 1

    Actually my friend and I were working on a way to get 4mbs download time over a 56k voice modem. It worked in theory. Basicaly use tonal frequncies and chords to represent 32bit bytes. Ok It's not near as cool as those damm Frenchies.

  105. Get your US citizenship revoked! by TeknoDragon · · Score: 1

    Do you really want to be a US citizen when the next draft comes allong? ;->

  106. What a disappointing argument! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While I find your intention to defend Canada noble, I find the method employed very uncouth. How does an invasion or an act of vandalism disqualifies a country from being in the third world class?

  107. and female pop vocalists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and female pop vocalists

  108. So what? by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1
    So what's the use of a superfast network when all other networks are 100 times slower?

    It's like having a ferrari in a driveway leading to terminally potholed roads!!!
    -- ----------------------------------------------
    Vive le logiciel... Libre!!!

  109. Re: Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, Toronto is larger than both Montreal and Calgary.

  110. Hard drive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ummmm.... Now all we need is a way to actually get a computer to READ that fast off a HDD... or even out of RAM. I could do with 80Gbit to my door, kinda beats this 33.6kbps modem I have :)

  111. I knew it... by Bill+Henning · · Score: 1

    I knew there was some reason I have not moved to the States... although I must admit I enjoyed the weather during the 4.5 months I lived in Irwine&Westlake.

    --
    --------- Webmaster, http://www.cpureview.com and
  112. And a worthy project it is, too. by Eric+S.+Smith · · Score: 1
    The article mentions:
    Canada's national human genome project, an effort to map all the DNA in the human body, is using CA*Net3 to link 40 powerful computers to perform necessary calculations.

    I hope this increases our chances of getting our genes into the public domain before one of the private efforts succeeds and claims the inevitable patents.

  113. Now, to peeve the spooks. by Eric+S.+Smith · · Score: 1

    Now that we've got this giant "library-in-a-second" capacity, we've got to fill it with piles of encrypted traffic. The spy agencies will feel compelled to log, crack, and filter it all, thus consuming more resources and reducing the chance that they'll get up to naughty tricks in their (vastly reduced) spare time.

    I think it's safe to say that they've got their listening devices hooked up. It'd be fun to turn on the firehose and rip their lips off.

  114. Being a Canuck has its advantages ... by Lupulack · · Score: 1

    Everyone in Canada complains about the taxes, it's a national pastime ...
    But when you see what those taxes GET US ... wow!
    I mean, I'm not worried that I'll be financially ruined if I'm ever hospitalized, I can realistically own my own home, and now this!

    Sure, there are things I'd like to see changed ... but then, everyone can say the same no matter WHERE they're at.

    Now if only I could get DSL or cable out here in the woods ...

    --
    The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
    1. Re:Being a Canuck has its advantages ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but our health care is starting to cost as much as private health care does, and my 50% are way to high.
      The American governemt spends a greater percentage on health care than canada, and we spend more on defence.

      Normally i would be upset at how much the government is spending on this, but for some reason i'm not, oh well there are advantages to living in Canada.

  115. Or Montreal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .

  116. And it's powered by... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doughnuts and folk music.

  117. Re:Being a canadain servant.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, you really are an asshole, huh? I'm sure that your little rant on slashdot (repeated twice!) will get lots of attention by Sheila Copps... Write a reasonable letter (-) swear words, and chances are she (or an associate) will read it. Not that it would change things, but it would do more than your post on slashdot.

  118. Anybody here heard of Wavestar? by mlogan · · Score: 1

    Wavestar is a technology being developed by Lucent technologies that uses Wave division Multiplexing to transmit data over a fiber at 400Gbits/second. Check this out for more information. Granted, it's FOR SONET/SDH, which means that to do IP you have to do IP over ATM and then put the ATM signal over SONET, but it still blows 80Gbits out of the water.

  119. ... and jello, poutine, and pepsi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How 'bout them habitants!

  120. Bandwidth could earn money in the meantime by jsm · · Score: 1

    Hell, if nothing else, they could lease out cheap bandwidth from New York to Seattle, at least until they have the demand for it themselves.