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15 Dec 2006
Including news from Ciena, Alphion, Optical Communication Products, Dynasil, JDSU, LG Philips LCD, DRS Technologies, Adlightec, Keopsys and others
• Alphion, a developer of communication systems, sub-systems, and integrated photonic components based on its proprietary QLight technology, is to establish new research, development, customer support and manufacturing centers at Mumbai and Bangalore in India to support the growing demand for its FTTx products in Asia. Alphion sells to service providers as well as OEM customers in the communications, CATV, FTTP, fiber optic sensing and defense system markets. The QLight family of products is deployed in the rapidly emerging market for passive optical networks, photonic regeneration, amplification, wavelength management, photonic routing and fiber optic sensing.
• Optical Communication Products, a manufacturer of fiber optic components, today announced its financial results for Q4 and fiscal year ended September 30, 2006 and outlined its gross margin improvement initiatives. Its 2006 performance and operational highlights included: revenue growth of 25.3% to $70.1 million ($56.0 million in 2005); gross margin of 29.1% (38.7% in 2005); and it secured a key position in Japan's high-growth FTTH market with the acquisition of GigaComm. Order backlog at September 30, 2006 was $8.6 million ($11.7 million at September 30, 2005). OCP's revenue for the fourth quarter ended September 30, 2006 was $19.1 million, an increase of 29.2% compared with revenue of $14.8 million for Q4 2005, and an increase of 28.3% compared with revenue of $14.9 million for Q3 2006.
• Dynasil has announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006. Dynasil is a fabricator of optical blanks from synthetic fused silica, fused quartz, and other optical materials for the semi-conductor, laser, space and optical components industries. Through its subsidiary, Optometrics, it is a worldwide supplier of optical components including diffraction gratings, thin film filters, laser optics, monochromators, and specialized optical systems. Revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 were $1.9 million, an increase of 19% over the previous year's equivalent quarter. Net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 was $213,000 compared with a net profit of $98,000 for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. Revenues for the 12 months ended September 30, 2006 were $6.9 million, an increase of 37% over revenues of $5.0 million for the 12 months ended September 30, 2005. Net profit for the 12 months ended September 30, 2006 was $460,000 compared with a net profit of $173,000 for the 12 months ended September 30, 2005.
• JDSU has shipped its 10,000th ROADM (reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers). "To put this in perspective, it represents the majority of overall ROADM deployment and the significant role ROADMs play in helping service providers build agile optical networks," said Daryl Inniss, VP communications components, for Ovum-RHK. "ROADMs address the growing need for optical networking modules that enable greater service delivery and network flexibility." Bandwidth and traffic patterns have become increasingly unpredictable as on-demand applications have become more prevalent, making effective traffic planning very difficult. As bandwidth-hungry applications are developed and adopted, service providers and multiservice operators (MSOs) are turning to Agile Optical Network (AON) to help them quickly and cost-effectively add capacity and flexibility to roll out new services and provide a seamless experience to their customers. ROADMs, being remotely reconfigurable, allow the service providers to benefit from fewer truck rolls and lower operating cost by enabling "point and click" optical bandwidth management. Each of the 10,000 ROADMs shipped by JDSU is capable of carrying and dynamically switching 1.6Tbits worth of traffic (40x40Gbit/s). According to Ovum-RHK, the total number of ROADM unit shipments is expected to grow by over 40% between 2005 and 2009.
• LG.Philips LCD, a maker of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display technology for flat panel displays, last week announced that it is being investigated by fair-trade authorities from Korea and Japan and has received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice "as part of an investigation of possible anticompetitive conduct in the LCD industry." The South Korea-based company, a joint venture between LG Electronics Inc. and Philips Electronics, said in a statement it will cooperate fully with authorities. "Last Friday, as part of an investigation of possible anticompetitive conduct in the LCD industry, officials from the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) visited the offices of LG.Philips LCD in Seoul, Korea," LG. Philips said. "In addition, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) issued a notice to our offices in Tokyo, Japan, and the USs Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a subpoena to our offices in San Jose, Calif.," the company said. LG.Philips LCD opened its first customer service center in the US, in San Diego, in November. "LG.Philips LCD takes this matter very seriously and will cooperate fully with regulatory authorities," it said.
• DRS Technologies has been awarded a $6.3 million contract to develop a new near-mid wavelength infrared active detection receiver system. The system will be based on the company's mercury cadmium telluride electron avalanche photodiode focal plane array technology. The receiver will be an ultra-sensitive infrared detection system designed for use with a laser illumination source for detecting land-based threats. The contract is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and was awarded to DRS by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
• Adlightec has signed an exclusive sales agreement with Keopsys to represent and distribute its products and services in North America. Adlightec offers a range of broadband amplifiers, microwave module custom design services and innovative microwave monolithic integrated circuits for telecoms and defense applications. In joining forces with Adlightec, Keopsys is broadening its product portfolio while extending Adlightec's presence in North America.
• IPG Photonicshas announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 9,000,000 shares of its common stock at $16.50 per share. From December 13, 2006, the shares are expected to be quoted on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "IPGP." 6,241,379 shares are being sold by the Company and 2,758,621 shares are being sold by certain existing stockholders of the Company in the offering. IPG will receive net proceeds from the offering of approximately $93 million. IPG intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase its series B warrants, to repay certain of the company's outstanding indebtness and for general corporate purposes.
• Ealing Catalog, a developer of optics, optomechanics and laser accessories, has announced LOT- Oriel Group Europe as its new "master distributor" for the European Community. LOT-Oriel, based in Darmstadt, Germany will serve as the central hub into the European market.
• Research and Markets has announced the addition of the Optical Networking Best Practices Handbook to its portfolio. The handbook presents optical networking in a comprehensive way for non-engineers needing to understand the fundamentals of fiber, high-capacity and high-speed equipment and networks, and upcoming carrier services. The author is John R. Vacca, MS, MBA, an IT consultant who has authored more than 40 books about telecommunications, software, intelligence systems, and networks.
People
Frank Bergner has been appointed production manager for Qioptiq's specialist micro systems business based in Asslar, Germany. A graduate of the Carl Zeiss Technical School, he started his career as an engineer in precision mechanics and held a number of positions in project management, R&D and the production of resistive touchscreens. Prior to joining Qioptiq GmbH he was an optical systems project manager at Docter Optics. He joins Qioptiq GmbH at an interesting time in the company's development as it focuses on expanding its optomechanical design and manufacturing business.
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