Major Medical Institution Links Two Buildings in Urban Area With Secure, Redundant, and Mission-Critical Wide-Bandwidth Data and Voice Network

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., February 26, 2008 – Wide-bandwidth digital communication networks are essential to every modern medical facility. When the Hospital Civil in Guadalajara, Mexico was faced with the challenge of establishing a solid link between two of its buildings separated by more than a half mile, local telecommunications company PYXCOM knew it had to implement a reliable and secure solution that could deliver Gigabit Ethernet and support a communications backbone that included a local data network, hundreds of phone calls, full-motion video, and an ERP [enterprise resource planning] application.

A microwave solution proved cost-prohibitive, given the Gigabit data rates required. The hospital’s location in the middle of Mexico’s second-most populous municipality also ruled out digging up the streets for a fiber link. Free Space Optics, however, provided by Canon’s Canobeam DT-130 wireless data transceiver, provided an ideal solution. One of four models in Canon’s Canobeam product line, all of which leverage Canon’s decades of experience as a world leader in optical technologies, the Canobeam DT-130 provides transmission speeds of up to 1.25 Gbps for supporting Gigabit Ethernet networks at a range of 100m to 1,000m (more than half a mile).  The Canobeam DT-130 also incorporates a 3R Function (reshaping, retiming, and regenerating), which allows its data signal to be relayed without loss of strength or quality.

“The need for reliable, cost-effective ways of bridging gaps in digital data networks continues to grow in every part of the world,” observed Gordon Tubbs, director, Broadcast and Communications division, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “From hospital campuses networking critical medical data, to private businesses expanding their office parks, to government complexes needing secure communications links or redundancy for fiber or microwave installations, Canon’s Canobeam digital data transceivers provide an affordable and convenient way to quickly bridge gaps in high-bandwidth data networks.”

All Canobeam models feature Auto Tracking as a standard feature to maintain beam alignment and signal strength despite vibrations caused by wind, traffic, or other factors. All Canobeams employ a class 1M laser, which is safe to the naked eye and transmits high-speed data via infrared light. Because they operate using a line-of-sight beam of light, Canobeam is virtually immune from signal interception and provides secure data transmission. All Canobeams are protocol-independent (like fiber), can be set-up quickly, and since they do not use radio waves, do not require radio frequency allocations, permits or licenses.

“The hospital needed a reliable solution to seamlessly support their wireless network applications at the facility,” explained David Saenz, senior engineer for PYXCOM. “There was also the necessity to reduce leased-line costs that were being generated by their voice system. The Canobeam made it possible for the hospital to meet both requirements with a single backbone that could support their wireless communication requirements.”

Hospital Civil’s voice network was set up to support VoIP with a 100 Mbps Ethernet switch that required a solid link for its integration into the main LAN. PYXCOM installed two Canon Canobeam DT-130 data transceivers side by side in parallel, establishing a 2Gbps link.

“This parallel system provided for a high-efficiency redundant backbone,” Saenz explained. “This proved to be a critical requirement for this network.”

In addition to the Canobeam DT-130, the Canobeam line also includes the Canobeam DT-110, which delivers a wide range of data speeds from 25Mbps to 156Mbps at a range from 20m to 500m.  The Canobeam DT-120 provides the same data speeds as the DT-110, but at a range of approximately 100 meters to 2km (1.24 miles).

For applications in which HD video needs to be digitally transmitted as an HD-SDI signal with embedded audio, Canon’s newest Canobeam, the model DT-150 HD, is used. The Canobeam
DT-150 HD provides bi-directional, uncompressed 1.5 Gbps transmission of embedded digital video, audio and camera-control signals on a single HD-SDI or SD-SDI stream with no delay, at a range of up to one kilometer. It’s designed for the television industry and is ideal for situations where transmitting video via microwave link or fiber-optic cables is impractical or impossible, such as at many sporting events, outdoor concerts and awards shows.

Canobeam models DT-110, DT-120, DT-130, and DT-150 feature Small Form Pluggable (SFP) fiber-interface connections as well as Canobeam's DT-MNG-100 Management Board, which enables users to monitor the status of Canobeam transceivers via simple network management protocol (SNMP) or Telnet (for monitoring and setting). In addition, diagnostic logs can be stored in a PC via FTP (for log data transmission).

Now in operation, Hospital Civil’s Canobeam DT-130s have proven to be an excellent alternative for short- to medium-distance high-bandwidth link requirements. The hospital was able to connect six PBX systems and extend its local data network between its two main buildings. The Canobeam DT-130 was easily integrated into the hospital’s Ethernet network. Given Canobeam’s ability to also support standards from 802.1Q to 802.1P, it has convinced the hospital’s network managers to consider this FSO solution for additional future network-link requirements as well.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranking third overall in the U.S. in 2007†, with global revenues of $34.9 billion, is listed as one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in America and is on the 2007 BusinessWeek list of “Top 100 Brands.” To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/pressroom.

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† IFI Patent Intelligence Press Release, January 2008

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