I like the way these folks from Quantum Bridge Communications think. Thanks to signist on the MRVC thread.
Message 11691595
(REUTERS) Start-up firm aims to make fiber optics affordable
Start-up firm aims to make fiber optics affordable
By Tony Munroe
BOSTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Aiming to shatter the data
bottleneck that constrains many mid-sized firms with heavy
bandwidth needs, a Massachusetts start-up will unveil Monday a
technology it said will bring high-capacity fiber optic lines
all the way to a company's premises.
Quantum Bridge Communications said its new technology can
be used by local phone and cable television firms to link
residential and small office users to existing fiber optic
networks much less expensively than current options.
The technology would allow people to send and receive
massive amounts of data, make voice calls, or watch movies
without any of the delays most Internet users now experience.
"You can't shove lots of bits down a copper straw," Jeff
Gwynne, co-founder and vice president for marketing of Quantum
Bridge, said in an interview explaining the dilemma many
companies face, even in areas with ample fiber optic networks.
To date, using fiber to connect the so-called "last mile"
of phone networks -- the segment that reaches the customer --
has been so expensive that only large office buildings in urban
areas have been hooked up to the networks.
Firms with high-bandwidth needs in smaller office parks or
buildings have thus been forced to rely on costly T1 or T3
phone lines, or cable modems or digital subscriber lines (DSL)
that use old-fashioned copper wire, both of which have limited
capacity.
The company, based in North Andover, Mass., has raised $22
million in venture capital and said it will deploy its
technology to unnamed "beta" customers over the next few
months, with general availability beginning in 2000.
Fiber optics are extremely hot, analysts noted.
Optical networking firm Sycamore Networks Inc. <SCMR.O>,
also based in Massachusetts, went public Friday and soared more
than 600 percent from its $38 a share offering price, settling
at an eye-popping $184.75.
Cisco Systems Inc. <CSCO.O>, meanwhile, paid $6.9 billion
in August to buy fiber optics firm Cerent Corp.
Several analysts said Quantum Bridge enters a welcoming
marketplace.
"The optical space is going crazy right now. Everyone's
trying to figure out how they can offer fiber to businesses
cost-effectively," said Andrew Cray of the Aberdeen Group.
Said Hillary Mine of Probe Research, "What Quantum Bridge
is doing in a nutshell is rapid improvement in the economics of
fiber-to-the-curb, fiber-to-the-building."
Any would-be direct competitors to Quantum Bridge "are
still probably in the labs," she added.
Quantum Bridge links a customer with a telecom carrier's
central office with "passive optical technology" using cheap
splitters and couplers at each fiber junction, instead of
"active" connectors with expensive power and maintenance needs.
The technology can provide bandwidth ranging from 1 to 100
megabits per second, the firm said, compared with 1.5 megabits
per second for T1 lines and 45 megabits for T3 lines.
((Boston newsroom, 617-367-4106; fax, 617-248-9563; e-mail,
Boston.newsroom@Reuters.com))REUTERS
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