ADC and LightPointe team up to serve wireless carriers.

ADC (Nasdaq:ADCT) and LightPointe have announced that the companies have demonstrated interoperability between ADC's Digivance radio over fiber solution and LightPointe's Flight Free-Space Optics (FSO), expanding the target applications for ADC's patented Digivance system. Digivance digitizes radio frequency (RF) for transport over fiber and enables wireless carriers to add capacity and extend coverage in their networks.

ADC's Digivance system provides network coverage with significant cost savings through a technique known as "Base-Station Hoteling." By centralizing base-station equipment and using Digivance, wireless carriers can easily deploy antennas into desired coverage areas, unconstrained by limitations of traditional base-station deployments and complicated zoning regulations. Digivance is the only solution that digitizes the wideband RF for transport over fiber. The integration of LightPointe FSO opens up additional opportunity to enhance network coverage by deploying remote antennas in routes and locations where terrestrial fiber is not available.

ADC and LightPointe are working with a major U.S. wireless carrier for initial deployment of the combined Digivance and LightPointe FSO application.

"ADC has demonstrated the value provided by Digivance to create effective base-station hoteling and distributed antenna coverage strategies over fiber transport," said Jeff Quiram, president for ADC's Wireless Business Unit. "Adding LightPointe Free-Space Optics as a possible transport path where fiber is not available gives the wireless carrier another optimization strategy. Achieving interoperability between our system and LightPointe is an important step forward in expanding the range of applications for both Flight and Digivance."

"Utilizing Free-Space Optics to enable wireless carrier backhaul in the Digivance application underscores the core values of FSO--that of being an accelerator and enabler of networks requiring optical bandwidth," said Steve Hane, LightPointe's vice president, business development. "LightPointe strives to help partners like ADC focus on deploying their network architectures rapidly and cost-effectively. In playing that supporting role, we see the flexibility and agility in our core technology as being critical in creating application-specific opportunity. One size doesn't fit all, and carriers must have the technology and ability to tightly address specific application needs. We're very pleased to have the opportunity to provide that capability in this application for ADC."