By Ron Coates, 16 November 2000 16:02
NEWS An Intel spokesman said the company would not discuss details but that the chip giant had made the investment "to extend the benefits of high speed connection to our customers who don't have access to optical fibre networks".' The technology promises a way around delays in local loop access for ADSL and digging up the roads for optical fibre. The giant chip-maker has put up what is understood to be around $5m for less than a 15 per cent stake in Quantum Beam, a spin-off from Cambridge-based Generics, a well-established British technology incubator and consultancy. Generics is headed for the London Stock Exchange and issued its prospectus today. But Quantum Beam will not necessarily follow - CEO Andrew Parkes said: "An IPO is one of the things to be considered, but we also expect overtures from telcos." Parkes claims the technology beats US rivals in price, bandwidth and its very low footprint. He explained: "The other systems are like a light house - you need a very powerful beam to scatter around. With ours, the hubs are about the size of a CCTV camera and even smaller receivers provide just enough energy to hit the hub and carry the data. "Our systems are self-aligning with a range of 200 to 300 metres. You could put a hub half way up a building and it could service all floors of a 100 story building opposite." The hubs are network neutral and can operate from fibre, NSP, Ethernet, RF broadcast, and others. A local loop version with a speed of 150 Mb has been on trial in Cambridge for two years. Quantum Beam will use the cash for further development and boost its staff numbers from the current ten to 30 by the end of January.
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