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17 Nov 2006
Including news from Ficontec, Newport, Zygo, NeoPhotonics, Lumics, Photline, Optima Research, Huawei, Dalsa, Olympus ITA, and others.
• FiconTEC has announced the acquisition of the automated fiber alignment and laser welding product lines of Newport. The transfer of the products is currently underway. FiconTEC is taking over all after-sales and service activities for about 400 worldwide installed systems and is already taking orders for AA-Modal alignment systems and LW4000S laser welding systems. The acquired products will complement FiconTEC's existing products and complete their product line for the fiber optic packaging process.
• Zygo has reported net sales of $41.1 million and net earnings of $3.7 millionfor its Q1 2007. Compared with the same period in fiscal 2006, net sales increased by $6.8 million (20%) and net earnings increased by $1.5 million (67%). Performance was favorably impacted by higher revenues from the company's Metrology and Precision Position Solutions units which have above average gross margin products.
• NeoPhotonics, has purchased tunable-laser startup Paxera. NeoPhotonics CEO Tim Jenks said the transaction was an outright corporate purchase for a mix of cash and stock. In early 2006, Paxera introduced a line of continuous-wave external-cavity tunable lasers that could be optimized for C, L, C&L and extended L bands by choosing the size of the optical grid. Paxera has kept its operation small, and NeoPhotonics said it expects to retain Paxera's dozen employees.
• Lumics, a manufacturer of fiber-coupled laser modules, has increased its worldwide marketing presence with the establishment of a sales office in Los Angeles, Ca, in response to increasing product demand in North America. The company named Lee Branst, a 20-year veteran of the laser and semiconductor industries, to be its North America Regional Sales Manager. Operating out of Lumics' sales office near LA International Airport, Branst will be responsible for expanding Lumics' sales and service network in the USA, as well as developing new territories and markets.
• Photline Technologies, a provider of LiNb03-based modulation solutions, is moving into a new 930 m2 facility. The five year old company has taken up a completely refurbished industrial building in Besançon. The new location offers complete in-house manufacturing capabilities and features 510 m2 of clean space for production and test of modulators and sub-systems, plus a 140 m2 clean room for wafer processing.
• Olympus Integrated Technologies America, a subsidiary of Olympus Corp, Japan, has announced an agreement with a large [unnamed] US integrated device manufacturer to purchase additional 300 mm wafer inspection and defect review systems from Olympus. This represents the IDM's fourth round of system purchases from Olympus.
• VTT Technical Research Centre, which offers world-class research in microelectronics, is expecting to resume full research activities by the end of November following reconstruction after a fire in February. The VTT cleanroom at Micronova facilities in Espoo, Finland suffered considerable damage. The air-conditioning system and most of the cleanroom structures that were damaged have been completely replaced. The cost of renovation and refurbishing of the 1,100 m² work area was estimated at approximately €13.5 million.
• Avago Technologies has announced its industrial Fast Ethernet optical transceivers based on the AFBR-5978Z have been selected by Phoenix Contact and Siemens. Avago is a leading supplier of innovative semiconductor solutions for advanced communications, industrial and commercial applications. The AFBR-5978Z is the industry's only industrial Fast Ethernet optical transceiver to incorporate digital diagnostic monitoring interface (DMI). The DMI feature permits real-time monitoring of transceiver performance and system stability, even in cross-continent installations, resulting in higher factory network uptime.
People
• John H. Marsh, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer at Intense, a developer of next generation laser modules for printing, defense, and industrial applications, has been appointed President Elect of the UK's IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS). He will serve from 1 January 2007 through 31 December 2007. In 2008, Professor Marsh will assume the role of President of the Society, succeeding Professor Alan Willner of the University of Southern California.
• Huawei Technologies ("Huawei"), a leader in providing next generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, has appointed John Frieslaar, as a senior telecommunications consultant to CTO Office. He brings over 26 years of telecommunications experience within the global voice and data communications market to Huawei. Based in Huawei's European CTO office in Basingstoke, UK, Frieslaar is tasked with ensuring that Huawei remains focused on identifying new technologies.
• Dalsa Digital Cinema LA, a leader in the development and commercialization of 4K digital motion picture cameras, announced today the appointment of industry veteran and former studio executive, Rob Hummel, as President. He will be responsible for accelerating the adoption of the Dalsa Origin, the world's first and only commercially available 4K digital motion picture camera, and for proliferating DALSA's world-wide leadership in the industry's transition from "film capture" to "digital capture."
• Optima Research, Stansted, UK, the European distributor for Zemax optical design software, has appointed Neil Barrett as general manager. He will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the business and the continual development of the services offered. Barrett has a physics degree from Loughborough University and an MSc in Optics and Photonics from Imperial College, London. Also, Damien Giramondo has been appointed as technical sales engineer at Optima. Giramondo has a degree in optoelectronics from Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne.
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