British Telecommunications Plc is poised to offer combined telephone and television packages with ONdigital and Sky, industry sources said on Tuesday.
Saw this yesterday. could the technology (FSO) be used?
newsalert.com
BTexact Technologies Takes Equity In fSONA Communications; Intellectual Property Rights Used To Take Stake In Free Space Optics Company
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LONDON, ENGLAND and RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA--BTexact Technologies, BT's advanced research and technology business, announced today that it has exercised its option to acquire an equity stake in fSONA Communications Corporation, a manufacturer of free space optical wireless systems located in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
Free space optical wireless systems enable connectivity between buildings using beams of light to carry high-speed data, Internet or voice traffic. These systems can be used as an economical alternative to hard-wired methods.
fSONA's optical wireless products, the SONAbeam series, were created based on original development work on free space optics carried out by BTexact's forerunner, BT Laboratories, in the early1990s. Five years of research and development has been invested infSONA since its engineering team took over the original product design. The result is an industrial strength, carrier-class product range, designed for volume manufacturing and targeted at the expanding global market for high bandwidth connectivity.
Stewart Davies, CEO, BTexact Technologies said: "Free space opticshas come of age. We have always maintained that there is a definite role for optical wireless in the telecommunications network infrastructure. It is a reliable, flexible component with compelling benefits offered by its very high capacity, low cost per bit and no licensing requirements worldwide. In addition, fSONA has maintained its commitment to the advantages inherent to the 1550nm wavelength which was a feature of our original research."
The 1550nm wavelength transmission used by fSONA ensures better performance over distance in adverse weather conditions, and equally as important, it adheres to fiber optic networking industry standards and guarantees complete eye safety. The 1550nm transmissions are blocked by the cornea and lens and not absorbed by the retina where damage can occur with shorter wavelengths.
"Taking a stake in fSONA using intellectual property rights demonstrates the value of the work that goes on at BTexact and shows our commitment to commercializing our work to the benefit ofBT's shareholders," added Davies.
"We are very pleased to have BTexact Technologies become an equitypartner in fSONA," said Theresa Carbonneau, CEO and president of fSONA. "It has been involved from the very beginning, from raw technology to what is now a formidable, state-of-the-art bandwidthconnectivity tool. BTexact's decision to exercise its equity option in fSONA speaks volumes not only about the potential of thefree space optics industry in general, but of fSONA in particular."
About BTexact Technologies and Adastral Park
Created in April 2001, BTexact Technologies develops advanced communication technologies for the companies across the BT Group and external organisations. The business is headquartered at Adastral Park, Martlesham, at one end of the UK's Cambridge-2-Ipswich Hi-tech Corridor and is a founder member of the Cambridge Network. It is the centre of technical expertise forthe BT Group and works with the company's businesses worldwide to help them to deliver new products and services to their customers and to build infrastructure for their future. BTexact Technologieshas a remit to work in partnership with external organisations andis using its world-renowned expertise, experience and intellectualproperty to develop a significant commercial business.
While the majority of BTexact Technologies' people are based at Adastral Park, significant numbers are located in offices worldwide, including locations in Asia, continental Europe, and North America. They include many who are world leaders in their specialist fields, leading the development of standards and new technologies in areas including multimedia, IP and data networks, mobile communications, network design and management and business applications.
BTexact Technologies builds on the international reputation for research and engineering achievement established by BT Laboratories, the name used by BT's Adastral Park research and development facility prior to its transformation into a multi-company technology park. For more information about BTexact Technologies please go to www.btexact.com.
About fSONA
fSONA has developed a family of optical wireless products to meet the rising global demand for inexpensive private-line, building-to-building connectivity, as well as a new option for high-speed Internet access where wireline technology is either unavailable or too costly to install. The company was founded in 1997 after reaching an exclusive global licensing agreement for free-space optical receiver technology developed by British Telecom (BT) Labs in the U.K. fSONA used this technology as a cornerstone in developing its laser-based transceivers for broadband wireless communications services. The SONAbeam(TM) product line, the first of which became commercially available in February of this year, carries high volumes of digital information- voice, data and video - at up to 1.25 gigabits per second, between transceiver terminals as far apart as four kilometers, delivering broadband communications at a fraction of the cost of wireline technologies.
fSONA and SONAbeam are trademarks of fSONA, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective companies. |
