Plaintree re-invents itself through wireless optic products to be released next year

Plaintree Systems Inc, Ottawa, is putting the finishing touches on four new wireless products, nearly six months after the struggling Ethernet switch developer purchased wireless network firm AT Schindler Communications Inc, also of Ottawa (RoW, April 3/00). The products signal the first foray into the wireless market for Plaintree, which has seen its fortunes dramatically turn around over the past 18 months. AT Shindler’s specialty was designing and developing infrared communications systems which can beam large amounts of information between buildings as far as 1.5 km apart. It’s main product line – FirLAN – is now part of the Plaintree bundle. Plaintree’s pending product releases are using this same infrared technology to bring new capabilities to mobile phone companies using the GSM standard and Internet service providers, as well as the avionics and the enterprise markets. The company is also on the verge of releasing a new wireless product that promises to be a major breakthrough in wireless last mile connectivity. Infrared technology is seeing more exposure on the global wireless communications scene due to its low-cost and ease of installation. David Watson, president and CEO at Plaintree, says that in addition to being easy to install and less expensive than other last mile solutions, "you don’t have to worry about the frequency and overlap problems (that crop up) with RF and microwave solutions." The FirLAN product line is also able to achieve true throughput by not having to deal with reflections and noise which are common in RF-based solutions. That’s why the GSM carriers in some parts of the world are taking a serious look at implementing infrared systems as an inexpensive last mile solution to connecting consumers to the wireless network, he says. "The developing countries and Europe are putting in extensive work to upgrade their mobile phone capabilities and what they need is 2 km to 4 km links operating at E1/T1 speeds with high reliability, low-cost and high-volumes," he says. In the past year, Plaintree has re-invented itself through acquisitions and higher spending on research and development. Since the takeover of Plaintree by the Targa Group last year, management has worked hard at restructuring the money-losing enterprise. The company imposed dramatic cost cutting measures to get expenses in line with expected revenue that paid off last year. The company scaled back the size of facilities and cut costs primarily in overhead, says Watson. The company posted a net income for FY2000 of about $1.2 million compared to a loss of more than $23 million in FY99. Prior to the acquisition, Plaintree had never posted a profit in its more than 10 years as a public company, and was continually plagued by product delays. Pieces falling into right place In the past several months, Plaintree has assembled an impressive sales and marketing team that is now in the process of weeding through the potential sales opportunities. While there has been significant interest in the company’s new products, Watson says, "we are refusing to accept such orders until such a point in time as the customer has had an ability to test our products." The company’s research and development team has been significantly bolstered of late. Plaintree’s most prized personnel acquisition was Dave Khan who was appointed VP product development early last month. Khan, one of the top photonics experts in the world, will work with "the top electrical and mechanical design engineers from Nortel Networks Corp and JDS Uniphase" that Plaintree has recruited, says Watson. The successful turnaround of the company has been a slow and arduous affair, but Watson says the company is now en route to a full recovery. "We have all the right pieces," he told Report on Wireless. "The only thing we’re missing right now is the completion of the products, (but) we have the right product with the right team at the right time."

Plaintree re-invents itself through wireless optic products to be released next year

News | 09/18/2000 4:00 am EDT

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