Is the Internet obsolete? To the adults in the room, you can still remember when there was no Internet. And then in the 1990s, remember how amazed and thrilled we all were with a dial-up connection? Downloading and streaming videos were hardly a dream. We knew nothing better.

And then speeds increased and now dial-up seems like riding a horse to work when everyone else is driving a Ferrari. Imagine how life might change and the applications that will emerge if the Internet could operate at 10,000 times current speed? Light speed ahead. Let the speculation begin.

Cern, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory and Swiss organization where Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 has developed the Grid.  The problem with the current Internet technology is that it piggybacks on existing phone and data systems. Phone cables were hardly developed with the idea of streaming video and lack the capacity for sending large amounts of data.

By using fiber optic networks and utilizing modern routing centers, the Grid promises to deliver data 10,000 times faster than current connections. What would your work day and home life be like if your internet connection ran at 10,000 times faster? Imagine downloading a feature film in five seconds and storing all your data online rather than on your PC.

According to a report by FoxNews.com, the grid could

“transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.”

The grid got started as a computing project seven years ago at Cern, where scientists operate the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. Researchers began seeking a more efficient network as they realized that the collider would generate annual data that could cause a global internet collapse. The system plans to connect from CERN to 11 academic centers around the globe and already has 55,000 servers in place.

Expect a response and lawsuits from Hollywood and the RIAA in ten years.