Richmond Ford Harnesses Laser Communications at Less Cost with 99.9% Up-Time Reliability

Richmond, VA April 30, 2004 -– Mike Fitzgerald, General Sales Manager of Richmond Ford, had a problem to solve – he wanted to satisfy increasing customer demand for truck purchases and had too little room in his 4600 West Broad Street showroom to do so. The solution? Open a new truck sales office directly across the street. He now had a new problem to solve – data communications between the two showrooms. He needed to extend his existing high-speed data connection to the new sales office at a reasonable cost with little down time during the process.
   
Richmond Ford partnered with Wheat Systems Integration (WSI) and Designed Telecommunications (D-tel Communications), to gain secure, high speed, laser-based internet access, at one-third the cost of traditional underground fiber optic systems, in far less time than the original one-year timeline, with a reliability that most businesses only dream of achieving – a whopping 99.9%. The solution? Free Space Optical Laser technology.
   
Unlike older wireless technologies, Free Space Optical Laser technology requires no spectrum licensing and is not subject to frequency interference. In this solution, WSI and D-tel Communications used sending-receiving equipment to shoot data between the two offices. The only requirement is that the receiving equipment, mounted on the side of the building, should have a clear line-of-site to the sending equipment, so the data can literally laser-direct itself surgically through the window directly to the receiving equipment. As importantly, Free Space Optical Laser technology could be up and running in hours without waiting to lay optical cable under street and parking lots and without applying for city permits.
   
Richmond Ford met its goals! When asked about how an automobile dealership was able to harness laser technology to solve its communication challenges, Mike Fitzgerald said, "WSI and D-tel Communications. WSI and d-tel Communications invested substantial time up front to clearly define our needs and expectations and engineered a very specific implementation and timeline plan. Together they tackled gnarly technical issues and simplified them. WSI managed our project from start to finish with a firm technical hand and together with D-tel Communications had our dealership up and running in hours. What a team! We've achieved our goals – secure, high speed, laser-based internet access, at one-third the cost, in less time, with an up-time reliability of 99.9%. We're happy and so are our customers."                   




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