SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Imagine if all the data traversing the world right now—on long distance networks and between and within computers and other hardware—could be sent through a single fiber the width of a human hair.

A new research center has been launched at UCSB to make that a reality. Researchers with the Terabit Optical Ethernet Center (TOEC) will develop the technology necessary for a new generation of Ethernet a thousand times faster, and much more energy efficient, than today’s most advanced networks. They are aiming for 1 Terabit Ethernet over optical fiber—1 trillion bits per second—by 2015, with the ultimate goal of enabling 100 Terabit Ethernet by 2020.

Partnering with TOEC as founding industry affiliates are Google Inc., Verizon, Intel, Agilent Technologies and Rockwell Collins Inc.

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)