Dude, you’re getting some data!

Don’t you love it when an internet service provider claims to have “light speed” broadband service, stopping just short of promising the actual download speeds you pay for?  Sure, if you perform a speed test directly from your house to the ISP, most likely you will get every bit per second you purchased.  So why do simple YouTube movies insist on buffering through your “light speed” connection?  The issue in part lies within the multiple data centers and numerous switching points along the way.

Now, I am not a professional IT engineer, nor do I play one on TV, but my interest peaked when I saw this news about Cisco’s new CRS-3 Carrier Routing System.  Cisco claims their new toy can move unbelievable amounts of data in record time, such as the entire Library of Congress in just 1 second, or every movie ever made in just 4 minutes!  They also claim it can handle every person in China making a video phone call at the same time.  With an estimated 1200% increase in video demand by 2013, imagine the impact this super switching technology could have on content delivery to our computers and mobile devices.  Dude!