New Li-Fi Technology Will Provide Internet At the Speed of Light

Li-Fi technology is using light from LED bulb to transfer data. This technology transmit data much faster than Wifi and users will be able to download 23 DVDs in just one second.

French startup Oledcomm demonstrated the technology at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress 2016 on Tuesday. The technology promise to be able to connect smartphone to the web with just a lamp.

Oledcomm CEO and founder Suat Topsu told AFP, "Li-Fi allows speeds that are 100 times faster than Wi-Fi which uses radio waves to transmit data."

In laboratory test, Li-Fi showed to achieve a theoretical speeds of over 200 Gbps, fast enough to download the equivalent of 23 DVDs in just one second, as Suat Topsu illustrated. The technology is using frequencies generated by LED bulbs, which flicker on and off thousand of times a second to beam information through the air. This approach dubbed Li-Fi as "the digital equivalent of Morse Code."

According to Discovery News, Li-Fi started its way out of laboratories in 2015. The technology was tested in France's museums and shopping malls. Other tests also conducted in Belgium, Estonia and India.

In Estonia, Li-Fi was tested in an industrial space by Estonian firm Velmenni. Its founder and CEO Deepak Solanki told AFP that he expected the technology will be able to come into commercial in two years.

However, as quoted by Daily Mail, a Price Waterhouse Cooper analyst Frederic Sarrat doubted, as he said, "It is still a laboratory technology."

Nevertheless, Philips,the Netherland-based electronic company is reported to be interested with the technology. While Apple planned to integrate Li-Fi in its new iPhone 7, which will be launched by the end of this year.

Li-Fi is a viable option for the Internet of Things. In 2020, it is predicted there will be 50 million devices and radio waves such as Wi-Fi technology should be insufficient to handle the network traffic. Therefore, Li-Fi provided the best option to connect multiple devices at once.

"We are going to connect our coffee machine, our washing machine, our tooth brush. But you can't have more than ten objects connected in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without interference," said CEO Topsu.

Chief analyst at Gartner Jim Tully predicted that Wi-Fi is still the option for years ahead. People will still wait and depend on evolution of Wi-Fi due to its success of implementation. "Wi-Fi has shown a capability to continuously increase its communication speed with each successive generation of the technology," Trully said.

Li-Fi technology has shown its capability to send data at the speed of light. However, users still have to wait for the technology to be ready in its commercial usage.