Neighbors unite to crack the net oligopoly in Silicon Valley

Neighbors unite to crack the net oligopoly in Silicon Valley

A team of Los Altos Hills inhabitants is standing up to world-wide-web giants Comcast and AT&T.

Tech-rich but online-very poor, inhabitants of the Silicon Valley neighborhood have been fed up with sluggish broadband speeds of less than 25 Megabits-for each-second (Mbps) down load and 3 Mbps add — the federal definition of a home unserved by satisfactory world wide web.

Frustrated by the acquire-it-or-go away-it angle of world-wide-web providers, they created their personal alternative — and now this tony enclave has one of the quickest household speeds in the nation.

Scott Vanderlip, a software package engineer, said Comcast gave him a $17,000 estimate to hook up his house to the quicker world-wide-web support at a neighbor’s house.

“You received to be kidding me – I can see it on the pole from my driveway,” Vanderlip claimed, remembering his reaction to Comcast’s estimate.

So the self-described “town rebel” jumped at the probability to husband or wife with a startup world wide web provider company known as Up coming Stage Networks. If Vanderlip could rally a handful of neighbors eager to commit a few thousand dollars, Subsequent Level would get them pretty speedy online.

A radio tower connects homes over a mile away to the fiber service located at the house of Scott Vanderlip. A battery backup and electronics cabinet for the radio tower are nestled under Vanderlip's family treehouse on the right. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
A radio tower connects residences more than a mile away to the fiber company positioned at the dwelling of Scott Vanderlip. A battery backup and electronics cabinet for the radio tower are nestled under Vanderlip’s household treehouse on the correct. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Team) 

That was in 2017. Now, Vanderlip is president of the Los Altos Hills Local community Fiber Affiliation, which supplies super-fast speeds — up to 10 Gigabits-per-2nd upload and download — to its above 40 association associates, permitting them transfer enormous data files and load webpages in the click of a personal computer mouse, Vanderlip stated. That is 125 times speedier than the median download velocity in Santa Clara County.

The position quo of broadband conversation — the passing of substantial amounts of info from 1 area to a different at the same time — makes use of phone wires or copper coaxial cables owned by huge providers like Comcast, Spectrum and AT&T.

This copper-dependent online is all which is available to just about 60% of the homes in the United States, in accordance to the Fiber Broadband Association. Four in 10 grownups earning fewer than $30,000 a calendar year did not have broadband world-wide-web obtain at dwelling in 2021, in accordance to Pew surveys. And lots of People in america have no world-wide-web at all.

“We can’t hold begging the Comcasts and the AT&Ts of the world to establish out a community that ensures most people in our group has (internet) that is trusted and affordable,” said Sean Gonsalves, who functions on local community broadband networks at the Institute for Regional Self Reliance.

Experts say super-rapid fiber optic cables are the foreseeable future of broadband. As an alternative of applying electric power, little beams of gentle bounce down the core of glass or plastic fiber optic cables, every measuring as thick as a

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DustPhotonics Secures $33M to Develop its Silicon Photonics Technology

DustPhotonics Secures M to Develop its Silicon Photonics Technology

MODIIN, IsraelOct. 28, 2021 — DustPhotonics, a leading developer of silicon photonics technology and solutions, announced today a new investment and corporate reorganization to align with new business opportunities and corporate strategy. This investment, totaling $33 million, was led by Greenfield Partners, who join DustPhotonics’ Round B investors Intel Capital, veteran entrepreneur Avigdor Willenz, and others. In addition, the company also announced it has completed an organizational realignment to support its strategic and business direction. The company will focus its resources on silicon photonics solutions and phase out its Transceivers product line. As part of this move, Ronnen Lovinger, president of DustPhotonics, has assumed the role of CEO. Ben Rubovitch, the company’s previous CEO, has stepped down and will lead the Business side of the company.

DustPhotonics Secures M to Develop its Silicon Photonics Technology
Ronnen Lovinger, CEO of DustPhotonics.

The development and production of silicon photonics solutions has increased in complexity in recent years, driven by exponentially growing data rates with every successive generation. DustPhotonics focuses on developing scalable, high density, lower power and higher reliability technologies to meet these needs. The company’s InP Laser to Silicon Photonics integration technology will provide significant value differentiation enabling superior performance to support 800 Gb/s, 1.6Tb/s, CPO and future products.

“This latest investment and the organizational changes will enable us to take advantage of new business opportunities and to continue focusing on serving our customers’ strategic requirements. Our disruptive silicon photonics technology addresses their key and most challenging problems, creating scalable, cost-effective silicon photonics and driving it as the mainstream solution for the Cloud and Telecom markets,” said Ronnen Lovinger, CEO of DustPhotonics. “We are thrilled at the continued confidence of our investors in our strategic direction.”

“With the rapid evolution of the connectivity and silicon optics markets, there is a growing need for innovative technologies. DustPhotonics is well positioned at the forefront of silicon photonics technology development and we are excited to take part in their journey,” said Yuda Doron, Managing Partner at Greenfield Partners.

About DustPhotonics

DustPhotonics develops silicon photonics  solutions for Cloud, data center, enterprise and HPC applications. Its innovative products and technology, such as Laser integration into Silicon, are targeted at enabling the next generation of optical modules and connectivity. DustPhotonics was founded in 2017 with offices in Modi’in, Israel and Cupertino, California. For more information, visit www.dustphotonics.com or contact [email protected].

About Greenfield Partners

Greenfield Partners is an Israel-based investment firm focused on exceptional early growth stage technology and tech-enabled businesses. With a dual presence in Tel Aviv and New York, the Greenfield team fuses investment and operating experience, deep local Israeli roots, and an expansive global network to support entrepreneurs in their quest to build thriving technology companies.


Source: DustPhotonics

DustPhotonics Secures $33M to Develop its Silicon Photonics Technology

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