Recent Media Coverage of Bridgeway Systems
This is a printer friendly version of an article from North Bay Business Journal
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Article published in North Bay Business Journal - Jun 20, 2005
TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY: Bridgeway's breakthrough
Analysts excited about bandwidth-efficiency technology
by Loralee Stevens
Staff Reporter
SAN RAFAEL - A simple-to-deploy telecom technology that could increase network performance by 10 to 25+ times on existing infrastructure while consuming 30% less energy might be called a lot of things: Revolutionary breakthrough, disruptive technology, even pie-in-the-sky. The founders of Bridgeway Systems are calling it a reality, and they say it's the next leap forward for data communications.
Bridgeway's R & D team, experts in the fields of digital systems communications, signal processing, and cryptographic systems, have discovered a way to pack more signals onto a wavelength, the most basic medium over which all data is sent. The technology, dubbed Distortion Modulation Technology(tm), resides on a chipset and has been shown to work over copper wire and in a wireless environment. It has the potential to work over radio frequency, fiber, and terrestrial microwaves as well, according to Bridgeway president and CEO Frederick Schuchardt.
Will market to ISPs
Mr. Schuchardt says he and vice president of business development Larry Strober intend to market DM Technology chip sets or DM Technology modems to ISPs, telecom carriers, and cable companies.
"The applications are wide, and include satellite technology, but our initial focus will be relatively narrow," says Mr. Schuchardt. "Dial-up Internet users, which number over 300 million, will be the earliest beneficiaries. Bridgeway's DM Technology expands a 56 kb connection to 500 kb, approaching DSL. On the other hand, we're confident that the technology will increase DSL speed to at least 5 megabits per second over more than twice the current DSL distance."
Production units, says Mr. Strober, are about a year away. Although DM Technology has been tested using simulators and spectrum analyzers, digital signal processor-based DM Technology is still under development at Bridgeway's R&D facility in Reno.Mr. Schuchardt expects the company will spend about $10 million to ready the first products for market. One source of funding may be government grants. He is in talks with officials from the National Security Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where the technology has aroused a great deal of interest.
Technology shows promise
William Crowell, a security consultant who has served as deputy director of the NSA and is a member of several government technology task forces, calls the Bridgeway technology revolutionary. "We're in a period when carriers are looking at spending lots of money on the 'last mile' of the local loop. This can get them there without the installation of fiber.
"Cable companies will be able to get a large increase in their ability to provide services. The technology particularly lends itself to VoIP, which has been hampered by low bandwidth. "The Bridgeway people are definitely onto something," says Mr. Crowell. "I don't expect funding will be a problem once the technology has been proven." At least one private investor shares his opinion. Peter Hankin, a founder of RHK and currently managing general partner of The Infrastructure Fund, says early tests suggest a significant breakthrough in signal technology.
"Bridgeway's lab work must now be duplicated in another setting to show that the results they obtained are the results they predicted, and not caused by some phenomenon we don't understand. But the intention is to produce many more bits per energy cycle, which allows more information, like TV signals, to be sent over copper wire previously unusable for that purpose," says Mr. Hankin. "In that sense, it is what we call a disruptive technology.
"And there's no reason why the technology couldn't be applicable to wireless telephony and cable as well, although each application will have to be rigorously tested. One thing we know for certain: The market is there," he says.
Founder of Riverhouse Optics
Mr. Strober, whose background includes founding Riverhouse Optics, a supplier of optical components to the telecom industry, says Bridgeway may receive some funding from local telecom executives.
"We've received informal interest and support from founders of two well-known local companies, and we've begun talks with them," he says.
Another local executive, though unfamiliar with Bridgeway, also expressed interest. Dan Swanson, senior director of marketing for local carrier Eschelon, says, "If the technology can be proven to be deployable commercially, it'll be a huge breakthrough for us and for consumers. The cost of DSL has kept it from the masses. This could change communications. It's exciting. I look forward to getting more updates."
For more information, call 415-492-1484 or visit www.bridgewaysystems.com
