Plaintree Systems Inc, is headquartered in the Ottawa region.

Founded in 1988, Plaintree Systems' focus was engineering and manufacturing intelligent network switches, that quickly gained a reputation for their robustness and reliability. Plaintree was a forerunner in the switching industry, introducing VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) before the standard was released in the mid-nineties.

As part of a financial and organizational restructuring of Plaintree, in February 2000, the Targa Group acquired a 49 percent ownership of the company and Plaintree hired key members of Targa's management team. The Targa Group is an umbrella organization for four other successful companies including Targa Electronics, founded in 1981, specializing in high-reliability, solid-state memory systems, targeted primarily for aerospace and military applications; Hypernetics Limited, specializing in the complete design and in-house manufacturing of innovative components for the avionics industry and the fiber optics industry; and two companies in unrelated fields, Tidal, and Wade-Tech.

Shortly after Targa made its investment, Plaintree completed the strategic acquisition of the assets of A.T. Schindler Communications Inc. (ATS), that positioned the company to become a leader in the optical wireless networking market. ATS., a highly reputable optical wireless company with over 12 years of LED (light-emitting diode) experience, had over 2,000 installations world-wide including the Canadian Senate, Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Team Ferrari, Boeing and the Los Alamos Laboratory. Based on this technology, Plaintree has launched its WAVEBRIDGE™ series of LED wireless links.

The WAVEBRIDGE™ system offers a fast, cost-effective solution to broadband access bottleneck, often referred to as the 'last mile'. LED wireless is fast becoming the most attractive alternative to the interference and licensing problems that have arisen with the abundant use of RF (radio frequency) and Microwave technology. WAVEBRIDGE™ links use Class 1, eye-safe LED technology for high-speed network connections for Internet Service Providers, cellular and GSM operators and campus networks. Plaintree's combination of WAVEBRIDGE™ optical wireless links and WAVESWITCH™ intelligent switches, makes it one of the few companies to provide a complete last-mile solution.

Potential Markets

Plaintree's WAVEBRIDGE™ LED wireless links are designed for use by Internet Service providers, cellular operators, and campus networks. Almost all point to point connectivity applications under 2km are ideal applications for the Wavebridge product line.

Marketing and Sales

Plaintree has expanded its sales team to achieve world-wide representation for Plaintree's products. Plaintree sales reps cover the territories of North and South America, Europe, North and South Africa, the CIS countries and the Middle East. All sales inquiries can be directed to our Sales Department.

Plaintree has also signed a number of significant partnerships with value added resellers ('VARs') in key markets. Please contact our Sales Department for information on the VAR closest to you.

Manufacturing Facilities

Plaintree has over 20,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Arnprior, Ontario, about 50 kilometers from Ottawa, the Nations' Capital.