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Copper-wire maker FlatWire Technologies claims it can solve the same problems addressed by complex, expensive wireless technologies like 60-GHz wireless personal-area networks-such as cutting the "rat's nest" clutter behind equipment and obviating the need to pull cable through walls-with a simpler, cheaper solution that is available today.
FlatWire is a division of Southwire Company (Carrollton, Ga.), North America's biggest manufacturer of electrical wire and cable. Its eponymous product is a flat copper wire that can be glued to walls and ceilings, then made nearly invisible with a simple coat of spackle and paint.
The wiring-composed of thin strips of copper encapsulated in transparent insulators-was recently written into the National Electric Code (NEC), thereby making it eligible for widespread adoption. FlatWire had earlier met NEC specs for low-voltage signal wiring, but the new listing, under article 382, claims FlatWire is also safe for carrying 110-volt line current. (NEC article 382 classifies FlatWire as "concealable nonmetallic extensions"; in this context, the product is nonmetallic in...