Here are a few other press releases from the past year regarding laser communications:
Demand for TMEX International Laser Network Accelerates.
Business Wire, May 25, 1999 p0268
Full Text
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 1999--
TMEX USA Inc. (OTC BB:TMXU) Tuesday reported that it has signed and pending contracts for over 10 million
minutes per month of telephone traffic across its high quality laser network between the United States and
Mexico.
TMEX also confirmed that negotiations are currently underway with other major prospective clients to allocate
all the rest of its existing installed capacity of 50 million minutes per month.
The contracts already signed will result in gross annual revenues for TMEX in excess of $5 million per year.
Contracts which are imminent will further result in additional gross revenue in excess of $9 million per year
for a total of $14 million. Successful completion of current negotiations would raise the gross revenue yield
from the existing laser network to over $70 million per year. By late August, TMEX expects to have completed
installation and full testing of its major facility expansion in Laredo, Texas. This expansion, announced
earlier, will quadruple U.S.-Mexico telephone traffic capacity to 200 million minutes per month.
For further information contact Ray Taylor, vice president, at 888/TMEX-USA or 949/863-9872.
TMEX, a debt-free telecommunications company, has headquarters in Newport Beach. TMEX provides
international wholesale telephone, video, data, private networks, and Internet services via high technology
laser communication links.
AstroTerra Launches TerraLink 3000, a High-Performance, License-Free Fixed
Wireless Communication Solution.
Business Wire, May 11, 1999 p0525
Full Text
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 1999--
AstroTerra Corp. today introduced the TerraLink(TM) 3000 as the newest offering in its second
generation of laser data communication solutions.
The TerraLink 3000 incorporates the same ground-breaking technology used in AstroTerra's
satellite-to-ground laser communication system to provide high-performance wireless optical data
links between buildings in local area and metropolitan area networks.
Designed with AstroTerra's patented multiple transmit aperture technology, the TerraLink 3000 uses
three parallel lasers to insure optimal performance in adverse atmospheric conditions. The TerraLink
3000 can be configured for user-specified data rates of 10 to 155 Mbps. Since the TerraLink 3000
systems are protocol-independent, they can easily be upgraded over time as the user's network
environment changes.
"AstroTerra has been working with its strategic partners in a number of different vertical markets to
provide a range of free-space laser communication products that can fulfill a variety of networking
needs," said Sales and Marketing Director, Steve Barrera. "The TerraLink 3000 was inspired by the recent
surge of interest in fixed wireless applications for medium range, high data rate customers. A number of
clients need to extend their fiber-based networks to include new buildings and temporary sites. The
TerraLink 3000 provides network professionals with an intuitive way to complement their existing
physical-layer solutions. Integrating network devices via a simple line-of-sight link, the TerraLinks allow
quick backbone expansions without the need for trenching permits or FCC licenses. Compared to
traditional leased-line options, the benefits of incorporating these fixed wireless solutions can be seen
in both the immediate increase in data throughput and the long-term cost savings."
"In addition to being used for high speed enterprise data networks, laser communication products
such as the TerraLink 3000 will find increasing applications in last mile telecommunications service at
data rates of OC-3, OC-12 and higher," added Eric Korevaar, AstroTerra president. "Laser
communication systems can be deployed rapidly without licenses in locations where fiber connections
are impractical and costly, or take too long to install. Laser systems like the TerraLink 3000 can also be
used in conjunction with lower data rate microwave links to provide extremely high availability."
About AstroTerra
AstroTerra Corp. is a San Diego small business incorporated in July 1992. The company was founded
with the goal of developing and manufacturing innovative high technology products for data
communication. The TerraLink products incorporate technologies fostered by the STRV-2 satellite laser
communications program, in which AstroTerra designed and developed hardware capable of
transmitting and receiving secure data at 1 Gbps between low earth orbit and a ground site.
Bell Labs pushes gigabit wireless link as a way to boost throughput fourfold.
(Company Business and Marketing)
Government Computer News, Feb 8, 1999 v18 i3 p42(1)
Author
JACKSON, WILLIAM
Full Text
High-powered, fiber-optic amplifiers can transmit up to 2.5 Gbps over distances as far as 1.5 miles
without wires.
That is a fourfold throughput increase over current commercial wireless products, which are limited to
622 Mbps and short wavelengths.
The new amplifiers boost power output tenfold, so that the longer wavelengths of fiber-optic
transmissions can also work for point-to-point wireless, said Jim Auborn, head of communications
technology for Bell Labs, the R&D arm of Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J.
"We can blast through much more power, Auborn said. "That means we can overcome weather conditions
better, we can go farther and most importantly, we can transmit more data."
Auborn said the transmission rate could in theory reach dozens of gigabits per second, but it will take a
couple of years for government applications to appear.
"I think it's going to be government-friendly" for Defense Department and NASA communications
satellites, he said. On the ground, the military could use gigabit wireless for rapid deployment of fast
data links, he said.
Wireless optical links now use laser-generated light in the 800-nanometer range at 100 milliwatrs of
power or less, Auborn said. The new gigabit technology works in the 1.55-micrometer range, and its
amplifiers generate up to 10 watts at the longer wavelengths.
Bell Labs' experimental transmissions used laser equipment from AstroTerra Corp. of San Diego. The
signals went across a 1.5mile gap from a transmitting telescope to a receiving telescope, which focused
them onto fiber by coupling optics.
"We don't see it as a replacement for fiber," Auborn said. But gigabit wireless could supplant other
optical wireless links as well as radio and microwave in campus and urban environments or in military
situations where it would be impractical to install temporary networks.
Because gigabit wireless uses the same wavelengths as fiber, it could take advantage of fiber-optic
techniques such as wavelength division multiplexing to increase capacity. But it has the same drawbacks
as other wireless links, Auborn said: It works only on line of sight and is affected by snow, fog and rain.
At distances of a few hundred yards, availability runs about 99 percent. Over distances of a mile or
more, that drops into the 90 percent range. "It's not 100 percent available as fiber systems are," Auborn
said.
Hovering around
For satellites, which orbit above the weather, the high-powered optical links would be an improvement
over current radio bands, which are getting crowded, Auborn said.
"Optical communications are completely unregulated," he said, and optical links are point-to-point, not
broadcast. "That's a big advantage because you won't overcrowd the frequency spectrum."
Lucent unveiled first single-laser optical transmission commercial system that can
deliver 40 Gbps of capacity.
Communications Daily, March 10, 1999 v19 i46 pNA
Full Text
Lucent unveiled first single-laser optical transmission commercial system that can deliver 40 Gbps of
capacity. WaveStar 40G Express System, which uses one laser over single wavelength on fiber cable, is 4
times faster than previous single-laser systems with capacities of 10 Gbps, Lucent said. MCI WorldCom
(MCIW) is first carrier testing new system and recently hosted lab system trials in Richardson, Tex.,
network technology laboratories, Lucent said. Lucent plans to deliver system to MCIW for commercial
testing by 4th quarter. It said system, developed by Bell Labs, lets communications providers reduce
central office space requirements up to 75% by providing 40 Gbps of capacity in single equipment bay
instead of 4. Lucent said it plans to use technology in multiwavelength applications to provide capacity
of 1 Tbps on single strand. System will be commercially available by next March.
Canon to Start Sales of Optical Communications Device for Two-way
Transmission.
Comline Electronics, June 11, 1999 p990611100001
Full Text
Canon , Japan's top manufacturer of printers and globally known for its brand of cameras, is to start
sales in November of this year of the "Canon Beam DT-50," which is an optical communications device
that allows two-way transmission of digital data using a semiconductor laser. The device is a new
development based on the digitization of data transfer of the company's conventional optical
communications device, and Canon is aiming to create demand for its use in backbone lines for local
area networks. The device allows point-to-point data transmission within a distance of two kilometers,
at speeds of up to 622 megabits per second. In addition, it can be used in a wide variety of applications,
including high-speed and optical LANs and ATM data transmission, without any signal deterioration.
The price of the device, including a transmission beam unit and a reception beam unit, is to be set at 5.8
million yen.
Ref: Japan Industrial Journal, 06/04/99, p. 4
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