Click Here Internet at the speed of light
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Mar 27, 2026 Mahesh Krishnaswamy, engineer and founder building laser-based free-space optical internet (Taara/Terra). He recounts moving from Chennai to Silicon Valley and adapting balloon-connected ideas into ground laser links. Hear stories of rapid disaster deployments, a conference outage that proved the tech, and the challenges of weather, alignment, and scaling.
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Access Gap Is A Network Design Problem
- Internet access gaps persist because physical network design leaves whole communities without reliable broadband.
- Mahesh Krishnaswamy frames connectivity as a systemic design problem, not just individual adoption or choice.
How A Chennai Internet Cafe Shaped A Founder
- Mahesh grew up in Chennai and first used the internet at a paid cafe as a teen, saving money for access.
- That early exposure opened doors: education research, visa steps, and ultimately a path to study in the U.S.
From Project Loon To Grounded Laser Links
- Mahesh worked on Project Loon at Google X, using stratospheric balloons to bring connectivity like floating cell towers.
- He imagined using that free-space-optics tech closer to the ground to solve local bandwidth shortages.