LightPointe Connects For Less

Communications SMB networking wireless

Shipping this week, the FlightExpress 100 solution includes antennas and mounting equipment that links networks between buildings over distances of up to 600 feet and speeds of 100 Mbps, said Randel Maestre, director of product management at San Diego-based LightPointe.

The FlightExpress 100 uses a full duplex protocol that enables data transmission in two directions simultaneously, providing twice the bandwidth of traditional Wi-Fi bridging solutions. The FlightExpress 100 is also immune to interference from licensed and unlicensed spectrum, adding to its suitability as a replacement for Wi-Fi, Maestre said.

Rodney Waclaw, manager of wireless services at Network Infrastructure Corp. (NIC), a LightPointe partner in Tempe, Ariz., said the vendor's products provide good value in terms of distance and bandwidth capabilities.

"It's impossible to find unlicensed microwave or other applications that come close to what LightPointe can do," said Waclaw, whose LightPointe margins have ranged from 10 percent to 30 percent.

LightPointe's higher-end optical wireless solutions such as the FlightStrata 155 provide connectivity speeds up to 155 mbps over distances of nearly two miles, but at a list price of $30,000, which is out of the range of many small businesses. The FlightExpress 100 is priced at $4,500, which could make it a more attractive option for the lower end of the market.

David Pavlik, director of IT for Spectral Management, a Casselberry, Fla.-based wireless solution provider, said he has made margins of between 20 percent and 25 percent on the LightPointe solutions he has deployed.

LightPointe said it has more than 200 channel partners worldwide, about half of which are in North America.