Business briefs

24 Aug 2007

Featuring news from DARPA, Carl Zeiss, Oerlikon Optics, JDSU, Jenoptik and more.

•The Carolinas Photonics Consortium (CPC) has launched a pilot funding program that will award five projects seed funding for commercialization. The recipients will also receive business development support from the Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization initiative at North Carolina State University's college of Management. Proposals will be accepted from CPC member institutions until October 2007.

• BJF Profiling, a UK-based laser profiling specialist, has invested £1.3 million ($0.66 million) in new equipment and premises. The company has purchased four profiling machines which will enable it to cut a greater variety of materials to a wider range of thicknesses.

• DARPA Microsystems Technology Office has selected Goodrich Corporation to continue development of visible and shortwave infrared indium gallium arsenide, visible and shortwave infrared focal plane arrays for use in passive, night vision imaging systems. After successfully completing the first phase of the contract, Goodrich will now improve the resolution and sensitivity of the imager.

• SensL of Ireland, a developer of low-light detectors and modules, has opened a US office in Mountain View, California. The SensL USA office will be headed up by the company's chief commercial officer Joseph O'Keeffe.

•A licensing agreement has been announced between Harvard University's Office of Technology Development and Carl Zeiss MicroImaging, a 100% subsidiary of Carl Zeiss. The agreement permits Carl Zeiss MicroImaging to use the coherent anti-stokes raman-scattering microscopy technology developed at Harvard. The technology will be used in the confocal and multiphoton microscopes from Carl Zeiss.

• Oerlikon Optics has announced plans to boost its activities in Asia and focus on growth fields such as laser TV and optical security systems for motor vehicles. The move will "affect" around 100 positions at the company's Balzers site over the next 18 months.

•Revenue growth has been reported by optical communications company JDSU for fiscal year 2007. Net revenue at JDSU rose 16% to $1396.8 million for fiscal 2007 compared with $1204.3 million for fiscal 2006. A net loss of $26.3 million for fiscal 2007 was an improvement from a net loss of $151.2 million year-on-year.

• FLIR Systems has received a $20 million order from the US Navy for a variant of its SeaFLIR III stabilized lightweight multi-sensor system. Work on the delivery will be performed over the next year in FLIR's Boston, Massachusetts production facility. This latest order means that FLIR will have delivered over 250 Sea FLIR systems to the Navy community.

•Sales at the Jenoptik Group increased 12.8% in the first half of 2007 to EURO 253.7 million. This result is below the figure for 2006 due to non-operational effects and a weak first six months of the year by the Sensors division. The Laser and Optics division, however, recorded a 20.4% rise in order intakes to EURO 118.7 million which accounts for nearly half of the group's total in the first half of 2007.

People

•Philippe Lambinet has joined STMicroelectronics as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Home Entertainment and Displays Group. He will report directly to President and CEO Carlo Bozotti and will be responsible for ST's Grenoble site in France.