The free-space space

Developers of free-space optics solutions seem to have mixed emotions about Terabeam. They like all the buzz Terabeam has brought to the sector, but they are somewhat territorial about a technology format that many of them embraced long before Terabeam existed.

“Terabeam is kind of sucking all the oxygen out of the room,” says Jim Andrew, vice president at consultancy Adventis. “They happen to be first and they happen to be getting the most exposure.”

There are several differences between Terabeam and the growing number of free-space optics equipment developers, the most straightforward being that Terabeam is simultaneously pursuing a service provider business plan and developing its own equipment in conjunction with Lucent Technologies.

Other variables are more subjective and involve the capabilities of Terabeam's gear—characteristics such as point-to-point vs. point-to-multipoint, spectrum transmission range and through-the-widow transmission capabilities—as compared with those of its vendor counterparts.

Many observers automatically consider AirFiber to be Terabeam's main competitor on the equipment side, presumably because AirFiber's relationship with Nortel Networks provides an accessible comparison to the Terabeam/Lucent partnership. Nortel led AirFiber's second round of financing and established a distribution agreement as part of that deal, says AirFiber CEO Jim Dunn.

AirFiber's OptiMesh product is at the commercial stage and will reach general availability status this month, Dunn says. In general, the service provider targets for AirFiber's systems are facilities-based carriers seeking a way to complement their fiber existence, he says.

“This is a tool in a toolkit,” Dunn says. “This technology extends the reach of fiber, so the more fiber there is the more places there are to reach.” AirFiber's gear is currently active in eight service provider trials, Dunn says.

The early adopters of LightPointe's extant products were large corporate enterprises, including financial institutions and hospitals, says LightPointe founder and Chief Technology Officer Heinz Willebrand. “Then Terabeam came,” he says.

Like other supporters, LightPointe's principals see immediate potential for a range of service providers that need a high-capacity solution in the access market. “People are pouring too much money into metro optical,” says Baksheesh Ghuman, vice president of marketing for LightPointe. “Free-space optics can extend the reach into the metro—we're not just last-mile.”

British Columbia-based fSONA Communications, another free-space optics developer, sees both conflict and opportunity in the emerging service provider sector, especially given the current state of the economy. Carriers need access solutions that will allow them to immediately collect revenue, but many have spent their resources building backbones and rings, says Michael Penner, chief financial officer for fSONA.

“The playing field changed,” he says. “All the analysts are asking the start-ups when they're going to get revenue. They're on the hook because they've spent all their time building out their network.”

Optical Access is a subsidiary of MRV Communications, a holding company with properties in several different optical networking sectors. MRV formed Optical Access in July by melding together two divisions of NBase-Xyplex: Jolt and AstroTerra.

Optical Access is shipping products and has many reference customers at the enterprise network level, as well as at least one service provider customer: Dallas-based Tellaire.

Tellaire originally pursued a pure-play access provider strategy using free-space optics and is now trying to tap into the wholesale market, targeting other carriers that are seeking access bandwidth. The shift was driven by the state of the capital markets, says Tellaire CEO Leah Bailey.

“For us to go out and build a sales force just didn't make sense at this juncture,” she says. “Given how huge the need for bandwidth is between the metropolitan area networks and the buildings, we've decided to plug into the carrier's carrier market. We're following the customer—putting in links where they need capacity.”