26 OCT 2022, SINGAPORE: Transcelestial is spearheading the global rollout of laser communications (lasercomms) via the “Terabit Factory”, its Singapore-based manufacturing facility which has the world’s largest commercial lasercomms production capability.

“This manufacturing capability is not just a Transcelestial milestone – what we’re talking about here is a strategic hub in Singapore that has the potential to exponentially uplift connectivity for entire populations. An annual lasercomms deployment of this volume can create a potential bandwidth of over 10 Tbps, which translates into the capacity to connect tens of millions of users. We are excited to be in conversations with some of the world’s leading telecom and connectivity partners to roll out the technologies produced right in this facility,” said Mohammad Danesh, CTO and Co-Founder of Transcelestial.

The Terabit Factory is a 2,000ft² production facility based in Singapore with the capacity to manufacture up to 2,400 CENTAURI devices annually – the largest deployment volume of any lasercomms producer globally.

Transcelestial set up the Terabit Factory to meet the rising demand for lasercomms technology globally, across telecom, broadband, education, ports and maritime, government, defence, and more. Today, CENTAURI devices are installed in over 10 markets around the world, including Singapore, the United States, Indonesia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Mongolia. Regionally, Transcelestial’s partner network is active in Southeast Asia and select countries in the Middle East, Oceania and India.

Existing communication technologies, such as fiber optics or radio frequency, are challenged by the world’s ever-growing demand for better connectivity. Wireless solutions like lasercomms, by way of CENTAURI devices, provide consistent, high-speed wireless connectivity even in congested environments or under the most demanding weather conditions. CENTAURI devices can be deployed quickly with a simple point-to-point connection, meaning organisations can now connect the last mile rapidly, flexibly and cost-effectively, without any right of way.

Key features of the Terabit Factory include:

• Robust supply chain. While most manufacturing facilities around the world have been experiencing supply chain challenges Transcelestial’s diversified approach to supply chain and product design has allowed the Terabit Factory to stay ahead of the curve by mitigating many supply chain risks and challenges currently faced by other companies.
• Sophisticated assembly line designed for rapid scalability. The floorplan and assembly line was designed leveraging a lean six sigma methodology, a framework for operational excellence, to ensure production efficiency and eliminate waste.
• Robust field performance predictions via workstation tracking and data analytics. Every device tested on the manufacturing line directly goes through robust testing to simulate real-world customer experiences. Each workstation is digitised with unique tracking features to provide maximum traceability of performance parameters and key components, while data analytics enables constant, up-to-date performance predictions and quality in the field.
• Highly automated. Assembling and aligning precision laser optics is difficult and time-consuming, traditionally requiring high volumes of manual work. Transcelestial has, over the years, developed a number of automation IPs around the assembly and characterisation of precision optics elements, vastly improving the yield of Terabit Factory’s manufacturing process.
• Data-driven and smart. Quality is at the heart of this manufacturing facility. Featuring state-of-the-art data collection capabilities, each stage of the process is tracked precisely, while data is collected to ensure that each device meets the highest standards. The Terabit Factory is fully compliant with ISO Standards: ISO 9001:2015, AS9100:2016 and ISO 14001 : 2015.
• Highly modular and future-proof. The Terabit Factory was built with Transcelestial’s future product builds in mind. Not only can the facility support the current CENTAURI 1G and 10G models, but it is also modular enough to support Transcelestial’s next generation of devices that offer 100s of Gbps whenever the need arises.

The Terabit Factory employs local engineering talent – including engineers, interns and new career professionals from local Singapore universities. The facility is expected to drive more local talent to be immersed in advanced manufacturing and have opportunities to learn and contribute to research and development alongside global field experts from Transcelestial’s technical team.

“We’ve designed – and future-proofed – a best-in-class manufacturing facility that can rapidly scale up. Creating it felt like something in a sci-fi movie, and yet, I get to step into and see our products being built every day. I’m very proud of the operational excellence we’ve achieved, and the continuous improvements being made only make the Terabit Factory second to none,” says Mark Wong, Head of Manufacturing for Transcelestial.

– END OF PRESS RELEASE –

For press enquiries and requests, please contact: Rachael De Foe ([email protected])

About Transcelestial:

Transcelestial has mass-produced a solution for superfast global Internet distribution that leverages its proprietary wireless laser communication technology to create a wireless distribution network between buildings, traditional cell towers, street-level poles and other physical infrastructure – with a much lower total operating cost for Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers and enterprises.

In the longer-term, Transcelestial aims to develop a constellation of small satellites positioned in Low Earth Orbit, allowing their laser network to not only beam across cities but upwards to connect continents globally too.

Transcelestial has won numerous industry and global awards such as SPIFFY San Andreas Award for Most Disruptive Technology by Telecom Council, Forbes 30 Under 30 to our CTO Dr. Mohammad Danesh, Edge 35 Under 35 to our CEO Rohit Jha, The Most Ambitious Start-Up in Photonics Award by The Optical Society (OSA), etc. Founded in Dec 2016, the Transcelestial team is located in Singapore and is backed by major investors such as Wavemaker Partners, EDBI, Airbus Ventures, Kickstart Ventures, Cap Vista, SEEDS Capital (Enterprise SG), Entrepreneur First, Partech Ventures, 500 Startups, AirTree Ventures, Tekton Ventures, SGInnovate, SparkLabs Global Ventures, Michael Seibel (CEO of Y-Combinator, Founder of Twitch.tv), Charles Songhurst (Microsoft’s former Head of Corporate Strategy) and others.

For more, visit our website www.transcelestial.com OR follow us on Twitter (@trans_celestial)

For sales enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Note to editors: an explainer of Transcelestial’s technology and solution

The majority of the world’s population today still does not have access to Internet connectivity, with billions being just within 10km of the nearest fiber optic cable or RF device.

Transcelestial’s lasercomms tap into a delicate balance of precision and stability, regardless of contextual factors such as extreme weather To put the problem into context, Transcelestial’s technology involves accurately beaming a laser as thin as a single hair strand into a smartphone-sized window 3 km away. All the while, both the laser and the window are moving but must continue to perform reliably.

Transcelestial has developed the technology and underlying AI algorithms to point and track laser beams with an enhanced degree of precision. Its solution can also sense weather conditions and automatically and pre-emptively modulate laser power to ensure continuous data transmission, enabling always-on connectivity even in unfavourable weather conditions. Installing the technology is significantly faster than fiber cables and highly automated too – Transcelestial’s CENTAURI devices have been installed, aligned and deployed within  half a day.

In comparison, laying fiber cables is significantly more expensive and can take months to get to market. More steps are required, from seeking approvals to lay the cables underground to physically digging trenches – and that’s all before factoring in future maintenance.