Business briefs

01 Dec 2006

Including news from Alcatel-Lucent, Biophotonics (Kalorama Information), Ciena, Kodak, Belgacom, Siemens, Cristal Laser, Impulse Optics, Oerlikon, Melles Griot and others.

• Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled its new identity that will symbolize the self-styled "world's largest communications supplier". The new logo, a variant on the infinity symbol (also known as googol) and incorporating an A and an L, signifies the two organizations "flowing into each other". The color of the new logo is purple, which stands for ambition creativity, wisdom and dignity and "represents the endless possibilities for the future and our commitment to being a strong and enduring ally for our customers around the world," according to Patricia Russo, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent.

• The market for biophotonics is growing at approximately 31% annually with worldwide revenues reaching $11 billion in 2006. According to Biophotonics: A Strategic Assessment of Photonics Technologies for Biomedical Applications, a new report from Kalorama Information, the market will soar to $133 billion by 2016 as the techniques become more commonplace. The key to growth in biophotonic technology is its ability to augment or replace many current conventional technologies in research, diagnostics and therapeutics.

• Ciena, the network systems developer, is partnering with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the US Naval Research Laboratory to upgrade the Boston South Network (BoSSNET; Boston to Washington, DC) - an applications and network test bed for researching high bandwidth (tens of Gbit/s per wavelength), long reach (approx. 1,000 km) all-optical transmissions - using Ciena's standards-based, all-optical DWDM technology.

• Eastman Kodak's Health Group and National Digital Medical Archive (NDMA) are collaborating on product-integration initiatives to support the European mammography market's transition from analog to digital imaging and IT. The partners will combine each other's systems, including Kodak Carestream IMS to enable healthcare facilities to better manage images and information related to mammography screening.

• Belgacom, Belgium's biggest telco operator, has topped the 100,000 customer mark for its interactive, digital IPTV offering faster than it expected. Instead of the end of 2006, as anticipated, the Belgian operator hit 103,000 subscribers at the end of September 2006. The solution is based on Surpass Home Entertainment from Siemens, a turnkey end-to-end solution for IPTV that is brought into Belgian households via the ADSL line.

• Non-linear laser crystal developer Cristal Laser commenced a three-year development program with the acquisition of an IBS coating chamber from Veeco Instruments. The device was purchased and tested upon Cristal Laser's specifications for dual-band AR coatings at 1064 and 532 nm with very low reflectivity, which can be achieved only by the means of a sputtering technology. An in-house coating capability is a strategic goal for Cristal, which is also reflected by the €2 million investment.

• Impulse Optics is now offering lithium fluoride optics for applications such as windows, mirrors and refracting components across the spectrum. The material has the lowest refractive index of all common infrared materials. It also transmits ultraviolet radiation more efficiently than any other material, with a transmission range of 150-6000 nm.

Such optics are used in applications, including imaging, thermal imaging, astronomy, microlithography, X-ray monochromators, heat sink materials, and for the study of fundamental properties and defects in crystals.

• In Oerlikon Balzers' patent infringement case against Prodisc, the District Court of Düsseldorf, Germany, ruled in favor of Oerlikon in respect of its design of segmented color wheels (right) used for projection apparatus - although the judgment is appealable.

• DataLase has completed a distribution agreement for USA, Canada and Mexico with Ferro Corp., a developer of technology-based performance materials. This collaboration will see the two companies working together to develop a special laser mark-able aerosol containing the DataLase pigment, for applying variable information onto metal or painted metal parts.

People

• The Danish Optical Society presented its annual "DOPS" award to Johan Holm of Ibsen Photonics. He earned it for the development of Ibsen's polarization independent "PING" gratings, whose main application area is the booming field of telecom ROADM/WSS modules. The company says its gratings offer unprecedented high stability and efficiency and low PDL across a broad bandwidth due to their fused silica nature. "Holm not only developed a novel grating technology, he devised a manufacturing technology that allows us to produce gratings in high volumes with cost-efficient semiconductor processing technologies," said Kristian Buchwald, Ibsen's grating product manager.

• Photonic Products, which was recently acquired by StockerYale, has appointed Tony Wright to be director of sales for its expanding operations. "Tony's appointment will build upon the growth that the company has had to date," said Tony Pope, md of Photonic Products. Wright has more than 25 years experience in the optics-photonics Industry.

• Scott McLeod has joined Melles Griot Optics Group as product manager of the opto-mechanical product line. Previously, McLeod served, first as senior nanolithography applications engineer and then as new-product development program manager, at JMAR Nanolithography.