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THE INTERNET is starting to slow down and clog up as a result of the explosive growth in traffic created by new devices and applications in recent years, but a solution is at hand thanks to a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)-funded research project, led by a team at Waterford Institute of Technology.

“The internet is no more than 40 years old, yet it is still primarily based on the technology of the 1970s,” explains project leader Dr William Donnelly, director of the Telecommunications Software Systems Group at Waterford Institute of Technology. “You could say that it is now operating well beyond its initial design.”