Business briefs

11 Mar 2005

Including news from Aculight, Lucent Technologies, JDS Uniphase, and more.

General company news:

•  Lucent Technologies has officially opened its research centre in Ireland. The Dublin-based facility will complement existing labs in Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Poland and the UK. Activity at the center includes research on nano-textured surfaces for helping control the temperature of advanced electronic and photonic systems. According to the firm, the lab will employ 40 researchers when fully staffed and represents an investment of Euro 43 million.

•  Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices Corporation has announced that it will establish a subsidiary in Shenzhen, China. The new subsidiary will take over the display manufacturing operations of Epson Precision and is part of the company's response to fierce price competition in the LCD market.

Distribution agreements:

•  Optical components provider Bookham has licensed its silicon photonics patent portfolio to US-based firm Kotura, which is active in the area. "Silicon photonics is emerging as an important technology with broad applications," said Kotura CEO Jean-Louis Malinge. "Kotura has a world-class design team and many patents of its own. Together with the new portfolio of patents from Bookham, we have created a strong base of IP to support our future growth."

•  Polatis has announced a sales distribution agreement with JDS Uniphase, a US designer and manufacturer of optical communications products. The agreement means that Polatis' optical cross-connect switches will be available through JDS Uniphase's worldwide network of resellers.

Contracts:

•  Corning has entered a long-term purchase and supply agreement with AU Optronics Corporation of Taiwan for large-size LCD glass substrates. Under the agreement, Corning Display Technologies, Taiwan, will supply generation 6 LCD glass to AU Optronics' fabrication facility in Taichung, Taiwan.

•  Aculight has been awarded a Phase I contract from NASA worth $70,000 to develop a compact, efficient and robust ultraviolet (UV) fiber laser system for space-based UV-Raman spectrometers. Aculight will use its pulsed fiber laser technology to produce frequency-quadrupled UV light at 245 nm.

•  US defense funding agency DARPA has selected Northrop Grumman to develop gallium nitride components for future military space communication and radar systems. The three year, $16.5 million contract could be worth a total of $53.4 million if DARPA chooses to exercise all program options.