Free-space optics mesh startup ClearMesh Networks closed its doors last Friday after its financial backer stopped funding the company, according to an industry source.

The firm's incubator, Idealab, pulled funding for the firm before Interop, causing it to cancel meetings just prior to show time, the source says. The incubator is said to want to "focus on other investments."

Calls to the ClearMesh switchboard operator now connect directly to Idealab. "I believe they recently went out of business," the Idealab switchboard operator says, when asked about the company's status.

ClearMesh's former PR agency told Unstrung that it had also heard that the Pasadena, Calif.-based startup has shut up shop.

ClearMesh's product line used free-space optic lasers in a mesh network configuration for high-speed, high-capacity municipal wireless network applications. The idea being that multiple mesh connections could help to solve some of the line-of-sight issues that have plagued FSO systems, and additional WLAN radios could provide backup if the weather blocked the lasers. (See The Infrared Solution.)

The firm's initial ClearMesh 300 node was intended to be used as part of a "multi-gigabit" meshed system that could be used for VOIP, video, and other high-traffic applications both outdoors and in convention centers and other large buildings. The company had just unveiled another system aimed at wireless video survelliance applications. (See ClearMesh Expands.)

ClearMesh evidently had customers in place and trials proceeding when the hammer dropped. "They are trying to sell the technology," says our source. "It is a good deal."

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung