RE: new investorPlaintree was at one time a switching company. They produced a network switch that gained a reputation for being a robust and reliable product. At one time Nortel had invested in Plaintree. Plaintree shares at one time were trading at about $20. Nortel later bought Bay Networks (of somewhere in California). Plaintree shares tanked. Then a company, Targa Group known for company turn-arounds came along and assumed Plaintree’s debt. They also bought a company A. T. Shindler which produced free space optics products. Targa initially stated that free space optics was to be a niche product to support the switching line for Plaintree. As they tested the market they found that Free Space Optics was going to be more than a niche market. They then further developed their free space optics products. This was about year 2000. At that time shares of Plaintree were around $1.20. Then the telecom bust occurred and with everything else the market for Plaintree’s free space optics dried up. As a result Plaintree went through drastic cost cutting measures. At one time the TSX was reviewing Plaintree for continued listing. However Targa during the rough times provided financial support. During this low period however, Plaintree continued to develop their products to the specifications of potential clients.
There are a few reports out there on Free Space Optics, one by Merrill Lynch and a few others. Do a google search on Free Space Optics and you’ll find some. They were boasting free space optics market to be something like $2, 3 and 5 Billion annually. But who trusts analysts anymore. Then after the telecom bust reports changed. I don’t know of any current estimates for free space optics.
Free Space Optics is the transmission of data through beams of light; either via laser or LED over distances of up to 2-4km. Loss of signal may occur during fog. For this reason links have to be spaced accordingly.
FSO has advantages over microwave, radiofrequency, and fibreoptics
Read https://www.plaintree.com/wbpdf/plaintree_business_case.pdf from Plaintree’s website to get a grasp on them
Plaintree’s technology uses LEDs versus Lasers. There are several advantages to this namely:
• Wider beam ensuring a bigger footprint for easy link setup
• Completely eyesafe Class 1
• Less susceptible to scintillation
Main competitors that come to mind are:
Lightpointe, fSona, Omnilux, PAVdata, Terabeam, DominionLasercom
Hope this helps. As a Plaintree long it would be nice to finally see Plaintree turn the corner.