Business briefs

10 Sep 2004

Including news from Matsushita Electric Industrial, Palomar Medical Technologies, Quantum Dot Corporation and more.

General company news:

•  Matsushita Electric Industrial of Japan, best known for its Panasonic brand products, will launch a 65-inch high-definition plasma display in Japan on October 1. The company says this is the largest plasma display available through consumer sales channels. The 1366 x 768 pixel display will retail for around ¥2million.

•  Palomar Medical Technologies and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies (JJCC) have signed a deal to develop, clinically test and potentially commericalize light-based devices for home use. JJCC will now fund Palomar's initial development of devices for reducing or reshaping body fat, reducing the appearance of skin aging and reducing or preventing acne.

•  US firms Quantum Dot Corporation (QDC) and Ventana Medical Systems have signed a licensing and supply agreement relating to QDC's Qdot nanocrystal technology. Ventana plans to use the Qdots in its assays for cancer diagnosis and disease management.

Contracts:

•  Digital Optics Corporation (DOC) of the US has won a $750 000 Air Force SBIR phase 2 contract to design and make a coarse wavelength division multiplexed (CWDM) optical sensor network for aircraft.

•  BAE Systems Platform Solutions, US, has been awarded a contract by Lockheed Martin for the initial design of a helmet-mounted display for the F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft. The design will be based on the Eurofighter Typhoon binocular helmet. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

Financial results and funding:

•  Finisar, US, has reported a quarterly revenue of $61.9 million - $53.8 million from optical subsystems and $8.1 million from network test and monitoring equipment. This includes a full quarter's contribution from the VCSEL business unit acquired from Honeywell on 2 March, 2004. The revenue is an increase on both the $57.0 million recorded for the previous quarter. Net loss stood at $22.1 million, substantially lower than the $41.2 million loss recorded a year ago.

•  Oxxius of France has received EURO 2.4 million in first round financing from Sofinnova Partners. The company's first product, which was launched in the last quarter of 2003, is a monolithic continuous wave 473 nm laser.

Distribution agreements:

•  iolon of the US has named Ammo Engineering as its exclusive distributor in Israel. The US firm makes tunable optical devices for the telecoms, medical, sensing and test-and-measurement markets.

•  Advanced Photonix, a US maker of silicon-based optoelectronic products, has appointed Germany-based Laser Components as its exclusive sales distributor in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.