Dominion Lasercom Inc. Deploys 29-Link FSO Metro Ethernet Network for Texas School District

Business Wire, Sept 22, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BRYAN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 2003

Dominion Lasercom Inc., (DLI) a privately held company and a global supplier of patented Free Space Optic (FSO) broadband systems announced the successful deployment of a 29-link FSO Metropolitan Ethernet Network with the Weslaco Independent School District in South Texas.

Jeff Harris, the IT director for Weslaco ISD, knew his district needed more bandwidth to all of its nineteen campuses, but also needed to decrease monthly recurring telecommunication costs. After evaluating proposals for a private fiber ring, a microwave network and an 802.11x radio network, Weslaco ISD chose Dominion's 200Mbps FSO solution to connect all of their campuses to the District's Central Office.

"The Dominion FSO solutions are impressively cost effective. We were able to build our new network for a fraction of the cost of a fiber ring and cheaper per megabit than any other broadband technology. This network supports today's Internet traffic and FTP demands but it will also support our future plans for voice and video over IP including district wide closed circuit video surveillance," said Harris.

Kurt Liese, president of Strategic Datacom, the Dominion Partner that introduced the DLI solution to Weslaco ISD, said, "The most challenging obstacle to overcome when building or expanding any network is the time and cost of installation. The DLI patented fiber-coupled FSO solution does not require an outdoor utility connection to the antenna making it rapidly deployable and the most economical FSO solution to install. This time and cost advantage is multiplied when you have 20 units or more on a single tower as in the Weslaco install." (To view photos see full press release at http://www.davidnetwork.com/DLI_PressRelease_0903.pdf)

Also, high on Jeff Harris' list of DLI advantages was the elimination of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI). "Unlike the RF based wireless solutions we evaluated, the laser based DLI system is unaffected by any interference issues." This advantage ensures that the district's bandwidth will not decrease in the future due to someone else deploying other RF or laser based devices in the area.

Dominion Lasercom Inc. http://www.dominionlaser.com/ designs and manufactures patented Free Space Optical (FSO) communication systems and leads the industry in price and performance. This year, Dominion deployed the largest FSO Metropolitan network in the world and gained many notable customers in the education, healthcare, corporate, manufacturing and financial industries. This customer momentum, coupled with the company's court validated intellectual property and unique hardware, makes Dominion one of the leading FSO players in the market today.

Weslaco ISD is an innovative full service educational organization that works closely with the local community in order to meet both short term and long term educational needs. They pride themselves in employing leading-edge technology, which benefits the staff and students both economically as well as intellectually. Visit them at http://www.wisd.us/.