[92765] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Broadband ISPs taxed for 'generating light energy'
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Frank Coluccio)
Tue Oct 10 14:49:38 2006
From: Frank Coluccio <frank@dticonsulting.com>
To: Roy <r.engehausen@gmail.com>,
'Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law' <froomkin@law.miami.edu>
Reply-To: frank@dticonsulting.com
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 13:48:14 -0500
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
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 t=
o the
optical network element's receive circuitry, and the other half to was chan=
neled
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 se=
parate
wavelength for powering purposes, only, thereby solving the lifeline dilemm=
a.
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 governm=
ent:
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. Pho=
tonic
Power is especially beneficial for cost-effectively driving electronic devi=
ces
operating in high-voltage, RF/EMI and magnetic fields where traditional cop=
per
options are more complex or impractical.
"An efficiency of 50% pushes the boundaries of the maximum theoretical limi=
t 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 po=
wered
by fiber over longer distances such as tower-mounted installations for cell=
ular
and digital TV relay stations. Other applications are numerous including
underground exploration and medical applications where the isolated power a=
llows
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 communica=
tions
industries," said David Gudmundson, vice president of corporate development=
for
JDSU. "We believe that the delivery of power over fiber can provide strateg=
ic and
competitive advantages to a variety of applications that require isolated p=
ower
and are looking for copper wire alternatives."=20
end snip--
Practical? Who knows. Off topic? Youbetcha. I wouldn't have even brought th=
is up
except to add some balance to what was already an OT and out of control thr=
ead ;)
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=20
>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=
=20
>> then you must track the number of pulses in both directions and=20
>> determine the difference. Some days the customer gets more energy and=
=20
>> some days it doesn't. That should affect the tax.
>>
>>
>>
>
>(OBSerious: I bet it's not true.)
>
>--=20
>http://www.icannwatch.org Personal Blog: http://www.discourse.net
>A. Michael Froomkin | Professor of Law | froomkin@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.
