The IEEE worries the current ethernet standard might not be enough for the future-- and thus forms the IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections Higher Speed Ethernet Consensus group to develop "the next speed of ethernet."
What should this "next speed of ethernet" be? The organisation proposes capacities will reach 1 terabit per second (1Tbps) in 2015 and 10Tbps in 2020.
As streaming video and social networking lead to "an exponential climb" in global bandwidth requirements, the IEEE believes large-scale networks will need more and more speed if they want to avoid the digital equivalent of a gridlock in the near future.
Further adding to the bandwidth burden are connected devices, whose numbers are forecast to reach 16 billion by 2020.
The Consensus group is meeting at the IEEE 802.3 Interim Meeting on September 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland. Will terabit ethernet be on the horizon soon?
