Exabit

An exabit is a unit of information equal to 10^18 bits. When used as a data-rate, exabit per second (Ebps) denotes a throughput of 10^18 bits every second. In some contexts a related binary prefix is used, known as the exbibit (Ei or Eib), which equals 2^60 bits; however, the exponential, decimal exabit is the more common term in discussions of network capacity.

The exabit per second scale is used mainly in planning and describing future high-speed networks, intercontinental backbones, and data-center interconnects. It is many orders of magnitude larger than current mainstream links, which are typically described in megabits to tens of terabits per second. Exabit-scale capabilities are often discussed as aspirational targets for research networks and next-generation communications infrastructure.

Conversions help illustrate the scale. 1 Ebps equals 10^18 bits per second, which is 125 petabytes per second (125 PB/s) or 0.125 exabytes per second (0.125 EB/s). If using the binary prefix, 1 Eibps equals 2^60 bits per second, approximately 1.1529×10^18 bps, about 144.1 petabytes per second (144 PB/s) or 0.144 exabytes per second (0.144 EB/s).

See also: exabyte, data rate units, network bandwidth.