Business briefs

30 Sep 2005

Including news from Sensors Unlimited, Sherwood Technology, Alight, QPC and more.

General company news:

•  Gregory Olsen, the co-founder of Sensors Unlimited, will be on his way to the International Space Station (ISS) today. Olsen is scheduled to launch at 23.54 Eastern Daylight Time and a live webcast of the launch will be available on NASA TV. Olsen will also be participating in a number of live webcasts directly from the ISS. Updates and information is also being provided on the Sensors Unlimited website.

•  Alight Technologies of Denmark has acquired Infineon Technologies' 1300 nm GaInNAs VCSEL platform for an undisclosed sum. The transaction includes manufacturing equipment, wafers and intellectual property.

•  UK firm Sherwood Technology plans to open an Eastern US headquarters in early 2006. The company's DataLase technology, which allows the high speed application of labels and graphics to a wide range of materials, has spurred year-on-year sales growth of over 300%.

•  A £1 million ($1.8 million) state-of-the-art optical polishing machine has been installed at Technium OpTIC in North Wales, UK. The machine will allow scientists to automate the shaping of optical segments measuring up to one meter in diameter for projects such as the European Extremely Large Telescope.

•  Konarka, a developer of flexible photovoltaics, and Textronics, an electronic textile maker, have teamed up to develop solar-powered garments and accessories. The wearable electronics will be able to power devices such as mobile phones and music players. According to the firms, the products will retain the qualities of conventional textiles and take advantage of Konarka's colored and patterned power plastics.

•  Philips is investing Euro 35 million ($42 million) in its Turnhout lighting plant. The factory is said to be one of the cornerstones of Philips' lighting division, specializing in high intensity discharge lamps and metal lamp components. The investment coincides with the plant's 50th anniversary and will be made over the period 2005 - 2007.

Contracts:

•  Sensors Unlimited, US, has been awarded a contract by DARPA's Microsystems Technology office to develop a 1280 x 1024 pixel visible and shortwave infrared focal plane array (FPA). The contract will be awarded in three, 12-month phases and has a total value of $4.5 million. The FPA will be used for passive night-vision imaging and will be sensitive between 400 nm and 1.7 microns.

•  Quintessence Photonics Corporation (QPC) has received an order from an undisclosed US defense contractor for delivery and performance testing of QPC's Brightlase semiconductor lasers with internal Bragg gratings.

•  DALSA of Canada has received a CDN $1.7 million contract from a leading Asian scientific research centre to design and supply custom CCD imaging chips. Follow-on production units are due throughout 2006.

Distribution agreements:

•  nLight, a US manufacturer of high-power semiconductor lasers, has signed a distribution agreement with Indian firm, Dynotech. Based in New Delhi, Dynotech will be responsible for sales and service of all of nLight's CW and QCW high-power visible and near-infrared diode laser products.

•  Bookham has expanded its existing agreement with German firm AMS Technologies. The Munich based company will now distribute all of Bookham's telecommunications components to customers in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK and Ireland.