Business briefs

07 Nov 2003

Including news from Corning, IBM, Rofin Sinar, LINOS, Thales Optics and more.

•  Corning and IBM are teaming up with the US Department of Energy and the US National Nuclear Security Administration on a $20 million, 2.5 year project to develop high-speed, optically-switched interconnects for supercomputers. Commercial applications of supercomputering include drug design and weather forecasting.

•  Net income for fiscal year 2003 grew 206% compared with the previous fiscal year at Rofin Sinar. The German maker of laser systems reported a net income of $15.3 million on net sales of $257.7 million. Rofin says sales of its macro products increased by 16.5% to $136.7 million, while net sales of laser for marking and micro application increased by 15.7% to $121 million.

•  The Trumpf group has reported sales of EURO 1.19 billion for fiscal year 2003, an increase of 2.4% on fiscal 2002. Net income for the year was EURO 47 million, a 14% decrease which Trumpf says was due to an external tax audit. “Investment demand for plant and equipment was subdued worldwide,” said company president Berthold Leibinger. “The only dynamic developments were in Asia and Central and Eastern European countries. The lack of demand was especially marked in Germany, but was softened by the uptake of lasers by the automotive industry.”

•  Linos of Germany is axing 100 members of its workforce in a bid to substantially reduce its break-even point. The maker of optical components says poor market conditions in the second and third quarter of this year have prompted the restructuring, which will cost EURO 3 million.

•  UK firms MicroEmissive Displays and Thales Optics have announced a £0.5 million ($0.8 million) collaboration with the University of Abertay Dundee to develop next-generation head-mounted displays. The project will last 24 months and is part-funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry.

•  Dantec Dynamics of Denmark, a maker of integrated optical systems that study fluid dynamics, has acquired Ettemeyer of Germany, a maker of optical instruments that measure stress, strain and vibration. Dantec says the new company will trade under the name Dantec Ettemeyer GmbH.

•  Biophan Technologies has teamed up with fellow US firm Boston Scientific to develop medical devices that are compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. As well as causing safety concerns, metal objects interfere with MRI scanners and can obscure images of tissue and bone.