Tel Aviv firm RiT is proposing laser-based office data networks for up to 10Gbit/s per user.
Called IWON,data at up to 100Gbit/s is fed to a daisy-chain of ceiling(or wall)mounted units that beam data at up to 10Gbit/s to receivers around the room.
Each ceiling unit can send eight or 16 beams and covers 10x10m floor area.
Inside,optical modulators add data to the beams,which are then expanded to 3mm diameter for transmission.Links are bi-directional.
The point to point line-of-sight links currently have to be aligned by hand,and a built-in visible laser can be switched on to assist this.
As well as removing the need to cable the office floor,CTO Dr Erez Ben-Eshay told Electronics Weekly that the beam system is inherently difficult to snoop,and multiple additional layers of security have been included to protect data.
Products are planned for launch in Q3 2013.
