Device Will Boost Data Sent on Copper Wires, Microdyne Says

A computer equipment maker has created a device that it says will allow computer networks to send and receive vastly more data over standard copper wires.

The device from Microdyne Corp. provides the same data capacity over copper wires as do the more advanced fiber-optic cables, the company says. But it costs a fraction of what it would to rewire an office building with fiber lines.

More data capacity in computer connections is needed for such emerging technologies as video conferencing, multimedia computing and electronic imaging.

The Microdyne device is a circuit board that is attached to IBM-type personal computers that are linked in a local-area network. Microdyne says it will allow these networks to transmit up to 100 million bits of information a second, about seven times as much as standard copper networks. A bit is the smallest piece of computer data.

The device will cost $1,495 per PC.

The device is not based on any major technical breakthrough, said Asbjorn Sorhaug, Microdyne’s vice president of engineering. Instead, the company found a cheaper way to do what previously cost a lot of money.

Because of this, he said, the company expects competitors.