Scientists in California are working on a fast new Internet connection system that could enable an entire movie to be downloaded in a matter of seconds. "Caltech is already in talks with Microsoft and Disney about using it for video on demand," the magazine added.
The Fast TCP system, designed by a team of researchers at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, runs on the same Internet infrastructure currently used but is designed to be much quicker. Internet traffic is controlled by a system called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) which was developed in the 1970s and breaks down files into small packets of about 1500 bytes.
"The sending computer transmits a pack, waits for a signal from the recipient that acknowledges its safe arrival, and then sends the next packet," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.