22 October 2003 Redmond, WA Lightwave -- Terabeam Corp., provider of broadband wireless systems, has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has purchased Terabeam's Free Space Optics (FSO) systems, the Terabeam Elliptica, to connect its facilities in Albuquerque, NM.
The FAA has deployed Terabeam's FSO Fast Ethernet system, which provides voice and data transmission of 100 Mbits/sec--the equivalent to 65 T-1 circuits. The FSO systems connect several FAA remote facilities to its main network.
"Our systems are designed to meet the rigorous network security and reliability standards required by government agencies," explains Dan Hesse, Terabeam's chairman, president, and chief executive officer. "Our FSO systems are also of particular interest for airport applications, as they introduce none of the potential radio interference that is associated with some wireless products."
The Terabeam Elliptica system uses FSO technology to send an invisible, eye-safe beam of laser light through the air. The signal is carried on the same kind of light that is inside a fiber-optic cable but is done so through a wireless connection and is directed from rooftops, towers, or directly through windows to another such location. In addition to providing LAN-to-LAN or campus connectivity, FSO systems can be deployed to extend a fiber network to additional buildings and for cellular backhaul, spatial diversity, and disaster recovery applications.
This announcement with the FAA is the fourth customer win for Terabeam with a government agency. Recent government work includes projects with the Office of Homeland Security and Public Safety in New Orleans, the U.S. National Communications System, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the United States Department of Defense.