LIGHTPOINTE LINKS WITH TI TO USE ALL-OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY IN FREE-SPACE OPTICS.LightPointe, a designer and manufacturer of carrier-class optical transmission equipment using Free-Space Optical (FSO (Free Space Optics) Transmitting optical signals through the air using infrared lasers. Also known as "wireless optics," FSO provides point-to-point and point-to-multipoint transmission at very high speeds without requiring a government license for use of the spectrum. ) technology, has announced a strategic alliance with Texas Instruments See TI. (company) Texas Instruments - (TI) A US electronics company. A TI engineer, Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit in 1958. Three TI employees left the company in 1982 to start Compaq. , enabling development of new FSO systems. LightPointe will incorporate TI's Analog MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) Tiny mechanical devices that are built onto semiconductor chips and are measured in micrometers. In the research labs since the 1980s, MEMS devices began to materialize as commercial products in the mid-1990s. (micro electro-mechanical system) and DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive technology in its next-generation Flight FSO products. Free-Space Optics uses optical transmissions through the air to offer ultra-high speed bandwidth without the costs and delays of ripping up roads for cable or the hassles of acquiring spectrum licenses. "Working with TI will allow our engineering team to rapidly move forward in designing new FSO products," said LightPointe Vice President of Engineering Gerald Clark. "We're using TI's optical (MEMS) technology to develop a next-generation tracking system, which will offer our customers another cost-effective tool for creating reliable, high-speed networks." LightPointe currently uses spatially divergent beams to effectively counter slight variances caused by building sway and atmospheric conditions, which can affect the alignment of FSO link heads. TI's Optical Wireless Solutions will be used to create a tracking system able to efficiently maintain the alignment of high-bandwidth, carrier-class FSO links over greater distances in more severe conditions. "We are pleased that LightPointe has decided to integrate our technology into its FSO systems," said Matt Harrison
Matt Harrison (b. 1984), is an American libertarian writer, and executive editor of The Prometheus Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Orange County, California. , Business Manager of Optical Wireless Solutions, Texas Instruments. "We're committed to helping innovators like LightPointe develop value-added optical systems based on TI's Analog MEMS technology solutions." LightPointe was recently granted a patent on technology that eliminates the electro-optical (E-O E-O Electro-Optic ) conversion between fiber and Free-Space Optical links, allowing the seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. of FSO into all-optical networks. In July the company closed its second round of funding of $33 million, including investments by Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. Inc. and Corning Innovation Ventures. LightPointe is in field trials and lab trials with more than a dozen carriers in the United States and abroad. The company has an installed base of more than 700 FSO systems in 29 countries in the enterprise market, operating at speeds of 10 Mbps up to 1.25 Gbps. Founded in 1998, LightPointe designs and manufactures carrier-class optical transmission equipment using Free-Space Optical technology that delivers high-speed communications solutions to service providers faster and more cost-effectively than traditional fiber-optic cable. |
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