Broadband ISPs taxed for 'generating light energy'

Tue Oct 10 18:48:14 UTC 2006

Perhaps five or six years ago, Lucent was experimenting with a fiber to the home
application that took the received optical signal and passed it through a
splitter on the customer's premises. One half of the received signal went to the
optical network element's receive circuitry, and the other half to was channeled
to support remote diagnostics, loopbacks and a return path via a MEMS-type mirror
assembly. Speculation even existed, at the time, suggesting the use of a separate
wavelength for powering purposes, only, thereby solving the lifeline dilemma.
More recently I've come across this release from JDSU, below, which tempers what
even I thought was a bizarre assertion on the part of the Bangalore government:

From: http://www.globalexecutiveforum.net/Photonics.htm

--snip:
"JDSU claims O-to-E conversion efficiency record

"JDSU announced that its Photonic Power Business Unit has achieved a world record
in the conversion efficiency of laser light into electrical power. JDSU's 3 volt
and 5 volt gallium arsenide (GaAs) Photovoltaic Power Converter (PPC) has
achieved optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency greater than 50%. This
breakthrough further enables the use of fiber optics to replace copper for power
delivery where isolation from the surrounding environment is essential. Photonic
Power is especially beneficial for cost-effectively driving electronic devices
operating in high-voltage, RF/EMI and magnetic fields where traditional copper
options are more complex or impractical.

"An efficiency of 50% pushes the boundaries of the maximum theoretical limit for
photovoltaic power conversion. This improvement enables more power-hungry
electronics such as transducers, transceivers and sensors to be powered over
fiber. The higher power efficiency also permits remote electronics to be powered
by fiber over longer distances such as tower-mounted installations for cellular
and digital TV relay stations. Other applications are numerous including
underground exploration and medical applications where the isolated power allows
the operation of devices inside strong magnetic fields such as MRI (Magnetic
Resonance Imaging).
"With this breakthrough conversion efficiency, JDSU is better positioned to
deliver solutions to the medical, industrial sensor, and wireless communications
industries," said David Gudmundson, vice president of corporate development for
JDSU. "We believe that the delivery of power over fiber can provide strategic and
competitive advantages to a variety of applications that require isolated power
and are looking for copper wire alternatives." 

end snip--

Practical? Who knows. Off topic? Youbetcha. I wouldn't have even brought this up
except to add some balance to what was already an OT and out of control thread ;)

Frank A. Coluccio
DTI Consulting Inc.
212-587-8150 Office
347-526-6788 Mobile

On Tue Oct 10 13:30 , "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law"  sent:

>
>Feh.  Any government with real tax mojo will tax both of them on the 
>gross, not the net.  This isn't the milquetoast VAT, you know.
>
>
>On Tue, 10 Oct 2006, Roy wrote:
>
>>
>> However, since the customer must beam back light as part of the exchange 
>> then you must track the number of pulses in both directions and 
>> determine the difference.  Some days the customer gets more energy and 
>> some days it doesn't.  That should affect the tax.
>>
>>
>>
>
>(OBSerious: I bet it's not true.)
>
>-- 
>http://www.icannwatch.org   Personal Blog: http://www.discourse.net
>A. Michael Froomkin   |    Professor of Law    |   froomkin at law.tm
>U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
>+1 (305) 284-4285  |  +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)  |  http://www.law.tm
>                        -->It's warm here.