Researchers at the California Institute of Technology, in collaboration with several other organizations, have designed and implemented "a new data transfer protocol for the Internet fast enough to download a full-length DVD movie in less than five seconds." Announced on March 18, 2003, this remarkable feat is an important breakthrough for certain scientific endeavors that are currently impeded by limitations in network speed. The homepage of the FAST project, which is an acronym for Fast Active queue management Scalable Transmission Control Protocol, has an excellent overview of the technology. Many papers that are scheduled to appear in various journals are presented, giving thorough technical details and specifications about the protocol.
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