about pacific northwest gigapop

What is a Gigapop?

A Gigapop is a regional data transfer center that efficiently moves large volumes of data between regional, national and other networks. Because this "point of presence" (or PoP) connects with the high-performance gigabit networks to transfer data, it is commonly referred to as a "gigapop."

As our ability to create and store data has far outpaced our ability to transmit the data efficiently, the next phase of the Internet is focused on creation of high-performance, high-bandwidth networks. Examples of such networks and infrastructures are National LambdaRail, Global Lambda Integrated Facility, and Abilene. These infrastructures can and routinely do provide pathways that are over 1000 times faster than today's typical commercial Internet connections.

Circuit Size Comparison:
DS-3 = 45 Mbps
Fast Ethernet = 100 Mbps
OC-3 = 155 Mbps
OC-12 = 622Mbps
Gigabit Ethernet = 1000 Mbps
OC-48 = 2488 Mbps
OC-192 = 10 Gbps

Mbps = millions of bits per second
Gbps = giga bits per seconds

Reviewed and updated:  October 31, 2011