New Mexico College to Be First in Country with 10 Gigabyte per Second Wireless Network

Central New Mexico Community College Teams with OptiPulse, an Albuquerque Startup Aiming to Beam Blazing Fast Internet to Masses Via Laser Technology

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Central New Mexico Community College (CNM)

Nov 28, 2018, 12:37 ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Nov. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In January, students on a section of Central New Mexico Community College's Main Campus will be able to tap into the first 10 gigabyte per second (GBPS) wireless network on a college campus. That 10 GBPS connectivity will provide upload and download speeds of around one GBPS, or up to 100 times faster than a regular wireless network.

That blazing speed is thanks to OptiPulse, an Albuquerque startup founded by former Sandia National Laboratories scientist John Joseph, who graduated from Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) in 1980 with an associate degree in Laser Electro Optics before advancing his education and becoming a laser technology inventor.

Instead of using fiber-optic cables, OptiPulse uses an array of lasers that speed up delivery and cut overall costs. OptiPulse also enables 5G cellular network deployment faster, cheaper and greener. The CNM installation is a pilot project, but one that could expand to the rest of CNM's campuses, and then far beyond.

CNM decided to partner with Joseph and his company for many reasons, the most important being that faster data speeds will provide new, cutting-edge opportunities for students.

"The impact for education is huge," says Feng Hou, CNM's Chief Information Officer. "The increased speed will be an enabler for all kinds of new immersive and interactive learning that incorporate emerging technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D-rendering, and holographic displays."

Beyond the pilot program, CNM Ingenuity, the college's 501(c)3 enterprise arm, also made a small equity investment in OptiPulse because it saw the awesome long-term potential of this new technology. Kyle Lee, Chief Executive Officer of CNM Ingenuity, says the business is not only poised to revolutionize how the internet is delivered, but it could also be an important pipeline for CNM students.

"If their product indeed comes to light, we would create a training program as part of the partnership where CNM would provide the technicians who would install the OptiPulse devices," Lee says.

For Joseph, who invented the technology, the long-term goal is to create a network across the country that disrupts how the internet is delivered. He wants everyone to have fast and reliable access to the internet, just like most people have fast and reliable access to electricity.

"We believe that the network should ultimately function like a utility," he says. "We're not in this to make a ton of money. We're in this to change the current paradigm."

SOURCE Central New Mexico Community College (CNM)