Date: Sep 28, 2017 Source: bizjournals (
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Childhood friends Daniel Turner and Stephen Carter have teamed up to help solve one of America's greatest economic and social inequalities: the digital divide.
That refers to the lack of access some regions in the U.S. have to broadband technology. It's a challenge particularly for rural areas due to the cost and time it takes to build the infrastructure for high-speed internet.
But this pair thinks it has a fix.
The two formed D.C.-based Traxyl Inc. in 2014 and create FiberTrax, tiny optical fiber strands that can be placed directly on road surfaces and then covered in a paint with resins and other protective materials against traffic and weather.
In short: "We've developed a new way of installing optical fiber that is essentially faster, safer and less expensive than the traditional methods," Carter said.
The optical fiber can be put down at a speed of 1 mile per hour. Compare that with running wires over utility poles or trenching them into the ground, which can take an hour to go just a couple-hundred feet, according to Carter. As for the cost, Carter said installing FiberTrax is comparable to the price of using utility poles, about $50,000 per mile. Both options are significantly cheaper than trenching, which can run as much as $200,000 per mile, by his estimate. Over time, Traxyl hopes to bring the FiberTrax price to $20,000 to $25,000 per mile as it continues to innovate.
Traxyl has piloted the technology with municipalities in Winchester, Virginia, and Enid and Stillwater, Oklahoma. The company is discussing projects with Fauquier County and Baltimore. It is also piloting the technology with a Wingate hotel in Warrenton and coordinating with Virginia Broadband to support its network in Virginia.
In the upcoming years, the company plans to test the durability and lifecycle of FiberTrax. Right now, Carter estimates FiberTrax can last anywhere from two to eight years before needing maintenance. That's something he hopes to better understand after testing its accelerated lifespan in a lab, underway now.
After spending nearly $20 million to build the house, Ken Huntsman has just sold his Clifton home for $4.6 million
The company is about to get more support for its work. In July, it was named a fellow of the Halcyon House, an early-stage social entrepreneurship incubator created in D.C. by Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno, founders of Rockville biotech Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
"The Halcyon House is going to plug us into some areas we haven't been able to get access to," Carter said, adding that this allows the company to stay in D.C. through the incubator program.
"We have taken all the right steps to create and develop a new idea," Carter said. "We're looking at Halcyon as a way to structure the business, strategize, network and prepare us for growth and acceleration."
