The amount of data traffic on the internet and between servers in datacenters has exploded in the past few decades and shows no signs of slowing down. For example, Ethernet technology, used in small to medium-sized networks, has evolved from an original speed of 2.94 megabits per second to 100 gigabits per second, an increase of more than 3,000-fold.
An IEEE 400 Gb/s Ethernet Task Force has been formed to take the standard up to 400 gigabits per second in the next year or so, and even this may not be enough for some especially data-heavy companies.
