Laser Optics Try To Bridge Last Mile: Page 2 of 2

But the market for free-space optics is small, say analysts--and endangered. "They're crunched from two different directions," says Don Carros, an analyst at consulting company C3R Group. Verizon Communications Inc. and other phone companies are building new fiber-optic links to homes and offices, while Intel and others are investing in the radio-frequency technology WiMax, which promises higher speeds and longer ranges than the commonly used Wi-Fi for wireless Internet connections over short distances.