Latest news with #MaheshKrishnaswamy
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's Starlink Faces A New Alphabet Rival: This Google-Backed Startup Wants Federal Billions To Beam Internet Through Air
A startup created by Google parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, GOOGL)) is stepping into the broadband spotlight as it goes after a share of the federal government's $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program. The company, Taara, says in a blog post that its wireless Lightbridge technology can beam high-speed internet over the air, offering an alternative to both fiber and satellite options. Taara has stated on X that it is 'BEAD-ready,' referencing the initiative backed by the U.S. government. The post followed a major revision to the BEAD rules by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced in early June, which now encourages technology neutrality rather than prioritizing traditional gigabit fiber. That change gives companies like Taara a chance to compete directly with Elon Musk's Starlink and T-Mobile's (NASDAQ:TMUS) 5G Home Internet for funding. Don't Miss:$100k+ in investable assets? – no cost, no obligation. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in the announcement that the revised BEAD guidelines reflect a shift toward technology neutrality, aiming to deliver high-speed internet more efficiently and cost-effectively without prioritizing any single approach. Taara is led by Mahesh Krishnaswamy, a former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google engineer who spun the project out of Alphabet's X moonshot factory after working on its earlier initiative, Loon. He has been focused on bridging global connectivity gaps since his early days in Chennai, India. "Today, there are like 3 billion people still unconnected, and there is a dire need to bring them online," Krishnaswamy told Wired. His mission, he says, is to find scalable ways to bring high-speed internet to the places the fiber can't reach. Rather than laying cable underground or relying on orbiting satellites, Taara says it uses devices installed on towers to send internet signals through the air across distances of up to 20 kilometers. The company positions this technology as a solution to the "middle mile" infrastructure gap, which connects the main internet backbone to local delivery systems like fiber or 5G towers. Trending: Named a TIME Best Invention and Backed by 5,000+ Users, Kara's Air-to-Water Pod Cuts Plastic and Costs — According to Taara, this part of the network is especially crucial in remote and challenging environments, where last-mile connections often remain isolated without an efficient link to the larger grid. "Without it, even the last-mile fiber connections or 5G cell towers remain stranded, unable to reach the broader internet," the company wrote in a LinkedIn post. Alphabet's GFiber says Taara's Lightbridge can deliver speeds of up to 20 Gbps with ultra-low latency and no packet loss under clear weather conditions. This was demonstrated during a test in San Francisco with GFiber, which reported performance that matched high-end wired networks and exceeded traditional wireless radio May, Taara partnered with Digicomm International, a major telecom equipment supplier, to help deploy its Lightbridge system at scale. Digicomm announced that it will deliver Taara's Lightbridge to broadband providers, businesses, and municipalities seeking fast, high-capacity wireless internet. Wired describes Taara as a high-speed, earthbound alternative to Starlink, one that's already shown success at events like Coachella and in cities where laying fiber is cost-prohibitive. Whether the federal government will see Lightbridge as a worthy investment remains to be seen, but Alphabet is clearly placing a bet on the future of middle-mile infrastructure. Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Elon Musk's Starlink Faces A New Alphabet Rival: This Google-Backed Startup Wants Federal Billions To Beam Internet Through Air originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Yahoo
No Fiber Needed: New Chip Uses Light to Beam 10Gig Speeds Through the Air
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. A project from Google's parent company, Alphabet, is debuting a new chip that promises to deliver gigabit internet speeds over the air — no cable needed. The technology comes from Taara, which has been using light beams to deliver high-speed internet without relying on traditional optical fiber. Instead, the team created equipment that can sit on a cell tower and beam light signals through the air, transmitting 20 gigabits per second to another receiver as far as 20 kilometers away. The Taara project has since developed a way to condense the equipment, making it easier to install while also reducing the complexity. 'We've taken most of the core functionality of the Taara Lightbridge—which is the size of a traffic light—and shrunken it down to the size of a fingernail,' Taara General Manager Mahesh Krishnaswamy wrote in a blog post. The resulting 'silicon photonic chip' still uses light to beam internet data through the air. But it now uses software to 'to steer, track, and correct the beam of light' through hundreds of tiny light emitters embedded on the processor. In contrast, the original system relied on physical hardware, such as mirrors and sensors, to optimize the beams. 'In tests at the Moonshot Factory labs, our team has successfully transmitted data at 10 Gbps (gigabits per second) over distances of 1 kilometer outdoors using two Taara chips. We believe this is the first time silicon photonics chips have transmitted such high-capacity data outdoors at this distance,' the blog post adds. The Taara team views the technology as a promising way to expand high-speed internet in underserved areas, without needing to lay expensive optical fiber. 'These units can be installed in hours instead of the days, months, or even years it can take to lay fiber,' Krishnaswamy wrote. The team also told Wired that Taara could rival SpaceX's Starlink, which harnesses orbiting satellites and radio waves to beam high-speed internet to users on the ground. The problem is that Starlink's capacity can struggle if it's oversubscribed in populated areas. 'We can offer 10, if not 100 times more bandwidth to an end user than a typical Starlink antenna, and do it for a fraction of the cost,' Krishnaswamy told Wired. That said, the technology does face some challenges. For example, bad weather from fog, rain and even flying birds can all potentially disrupt Taara's equipment from beaming the high-speed internet data. But the Taara team has been coming up with mitigations, according to Wired. Expect the next-generation Taara chip to launch sometime next year. But a lot remains unclear, including its cost and where and how the technology will be deployed. In the meantime, the Taara team is working to extend the range and capacity of the photonic chips with a new model that'll boast thousands of emitters on the silicon. As part of Taara's development, the project has already deployed its optical communication links in more than a dozen countries.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alphabet's Taara chip uses light beams to provide high-speed internet
Alphabet has announced a new development for Taara's technology that could lead to low-cost, high-speed internet connectivity, even in far-flung locations. Taara's general manager, Mahesh Krishnaswamy, has introduced the Taara chip, a silicon photonic chip that uses light to transmit high-speed data through the air. The Taara chip is abut the size of a fingernail, far smaller than the technology the Alphabet division has been using. Taara Lightbridge, which is what its first-generation technology is called, is the size of a traffic light and uses a system of mirrors and sensors to physically steer light to where it needs to go. The new chip uses software instead. Taara is a project under X, Alphabet's moonshot factory. The high speed wireless optical link technology underpinning the project was originally developed for X's Project Loon internet broadcasting balloons. Alphabet pulled the plug on Loon in 2021 and focused on Taara instead, using its technology to beam broadband across the Congo River and the streets of Nairobi. Even years before Loon shut down, Alphabet's X was already toying with the idea of using light to beam internet and tested the technology in India. Taara's technology works by using a "very narrow, invisible light beam to transmit data at speeds as high as 20 gigabits per second, up to distances of 20 kilometers (12.1 miles)." It's like traditional fiber, in the sense that it uses light to carry data, except that light doesn't travel through cables. Instead, Taara's hardware emits beams of light. The beams from two units must be aligned with each other to be able to form a secure link that can transmit data, which is why Lightbridge was fitted with the parts needed to be able to physically steer the light. Taara's new chip doesn't need those components: It contains hundreds of tiny light emitters controlled by software with automatic steering Krishnaswamy said Taara's light-beaming units will only take days to install instead of the months or years it can take to lay fiber. During tests in the lab, the Taara team was able to transmit data at speeds of 10 Gbps over a distance of one kilometer (0.62 miles) using two of the new chips. They're now looking to improve the chip's capacity and range by creating an "iteration with thousands of [light] emitters." The team expects the chip to be available in 2026.
