Gigabit per second (Gbps) - Unit Information & Conversion

Definition

A gigabit per second (Gbps or Gbit/s) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to 1,000,000,000 bits per second, 1,000 megabits per second, or 1 million kilobits per second. It uses the standard SI prefix "giga-" (G), which represents a factor of 109 or one billion.

History

Gigabit per second speeds became prominent with the development of Gigabit Ethernet standards (like 1000BASE-T) in the late 1990s and early 2000s, significantly increasing local network speeds. The proliferation of fiber optic internet connections (FTTH - Fiber to the Home) further established Gbps as a common measure for high-speed internet access for consumers and businesses. Like its predecessors (kbps, Mbps), the prefix "giga-" in data transfer rates consistently refers to the decimal value (1,000,000,000), maintaining clarity compared to the binary/decimal ambiguity sometimes found in data storage units (GB vs GiB).

Common Uses

Gigabits per second (Gbps) is used to measure very high data transfer rates:

• High-Speed Internet: Fiber optic internet plans commonly offer speeds of 1 Gbps or higher.
• Local Area Network (LAN) Backbones: Used for high-traffic links within corporate networks or data centers.
• Data Center Networking: Standard for server-to-server communication and connections to storage area networks (SANs).
• Network Switches and Routers: High-performance network hardware often has ports rated in Gbps (e.g., 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps).
• High-Definition Video Transfer: Transferring large video files or streaming multiple high-resolution video streams.