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Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Turns to LightPointe for High-Speed Optical Wireless Solution to Overcome Airport Radar Interference and Environmental Challenges

Posted on: Monday, 10 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

SAN DIEGO, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- LightPointe, a designer and manufacturer of high-speed outdoor wireless products, today announced that Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc. (APSI), a leading commercial shipbuilder and member of the Norwegian-based Aker family of global companies, has deployed the FlightLite 100E to connect a vital warehouse operation to the corporate network. LightPointe's FlightLite 100E optical wireless link delivers highly reliable Fast Ethernet communications, with ample bandwidth for accessing business-critical ERP and VoIP applications while helping increase operational productivity.

Aker's state-of-the-art, 100-acre shipyard is on the site of the former Philadelphia Navy yard near the Delaware River and within a mile of the Philadelphia International Airport. To streamline operations, APSI installed a portable warehouse in the heart of its shipbuilding area to accommodate more efficient delivery of essential materials. Initially, an 802.11g radio frequency (RF) 54 Mbps bridge was installed to connect the portable warehouse to a nearby building for transparent access to mission-critical voice and data applications. But almost immediately, the RF product was plagued with performance and reliability problems. Low-flying airplanes from Philadelphia Airport and the associated heavy radar usage interfered with the RF product. Moreover, fog and moisture from the Delaware River further impacted RF performance.

According to Michel Boeckx, chief technology officer at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, the RF bridge only had about five percent uptime -- which meant it was inoperable nearly 95 percent of the time. After much frustration, Boeckx decided to replace the RF bridge with a more robust, reliable connectivity alternative. In January 2006, APSI evaluated a variety of connectivity options, including installing fiber-optic cable. But after careful consideration, fiber was ruled out, as trenching cable under a massive ship crane and adjacent railways wasn't feasible. Additionally, APSI couldn't justify the time delay or cost of trenching cable, which was upward of $30,000.

After consulting with a wireless expert from Gateway Computers, Boeckx was referred to M&K Internetworking Security Services, LLC, a Melville, N.Y.-based network consultancy and proponent of LightPointe's high-speed, point-to-point optical wireless products. Optical wireless, which is based on free-space optics (FSO), uses beams of light as the primary data path. The license-free technology also is immune to interference issues that can interrupt RF signals. With M&K's assistance, APSI evaluated LightPointe's portfolio of optical wireless offerings before selecting the compact, lightweight FlightLite 100E to connect the warehouse to a four-story building approximately 500 meters away.

Installation and configuration were straightforward, taking less than a day to deploy the building-to-building wireless link. Since then, the FlightLite has performed flawlessly. "The FlightLite hasn't missed a beat, despite heavy fog and inclement weather conditions," says Boeckx. "The high-speed link is so fast it feels like you're in the server room, not working from a remote location." Boeckx also is considering optical wireless links between other critical shipyard facilities to maximize the benefits of high-speed, point-to-point networking.

According to Rocco Resciniti, senior account manager at M&K Internetworking Security Services, the FlightLite produced significant time and cost savings. "APSI was able to rapidly deploy a reliable, high-speed networking solution without the licensing fees, time delays and installation challenges of competing alternatives," he says. "In return, they realized immediate performance and reliability benefits."

Improved network uptime has led to a substantial productivity boost at APSI. "With the RF bridge, our network used to go down three to four hours each day, which slowed every aspect of our business," Boeckx adds. "Now we no longer worry or wait. The FlightLite system will pay for itself in less than six months, based solely on our ability to keep around-the-clock operations running smoothly."

According to Bob Preston, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at LightPointe, optical wireless is ideal as a primary communications path as well as a temporary, redundant or portable point-to-point link. "For instance, LightPointe's transportable systems can be relocated easily if APSI moves the warehouse to another location," he says. "Furthermore, our outdoor wireless solutions can be deployed throughout the shipyard as redundant links as well as eliminate the need for leased lines altogether."

About LightPointe

LightPointe designs and manufactures high-speed outdoor wireless products for cost-effective bridging in enterprise and carrier networks. LightPointe's outdoor wireless solutions have earned high marks in enterprise networking installations for linking two or more buildings in LAN-to-LAN backbone connectivity with extraordinarily high-bandwidth from 100 Mbps up to 1.25 Gbps. LightPointe outdoor wireless solutions are unique in that they use optical wireless based on free-space optics (FSO) technology and are license-free worldwide. The company's patented DualPath architecture integrates auto-switching optical wireless as a primary path and license-free 5.8 GHz radio frequency (RF) wireless as a secondary data path for industry-leading 99.999 percent network availability and uptime. LightPointe products have been deployed in more than 60 countries, and the company is recognized worldwide for the highest standards of quality and service.

LightPointe

CONTACT: Bob Preston of LightPointe, +1-858-643-5312,bpreston@lightpointe.com; or Sue Hetzel of HetzelMeade Communications,+1-760-434-9927, sue@hetzelmeade.com, for LightPointe

Source: PRNewswire

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