Business briefs

03 Sep 2007

Featuring news from Osram Opto Semiconductors, Northrop Grumman, m.u.t and more.

• OSRAM Opto Semiconductors and the Lighting Science Group Corporation (LSG), a manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, have announced that LSG's Optimized Digital Lighting low bay fixtures with OSRAM Golden DRAGON LEDs will replace 12 metal halide lamps that currently illuminate a pedestrian tunnel in Raleigh, NC. Each fixture will contain 112 OSRAM LED light sources. Installation is due to be completed by the fall of 2007.

• The US Army has selected Northrop Grumman for the first phase of a program to demonstrate the maturity of enabling technologies for a mobile, solid-state laser weapon system mounted on a ground vehicle. Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector received a one-year, $8 million contract with options for a total value of nearly $50 million over three years. Under the phase one contract, the company will develop a preliminary design for a ruggedized beam control subsystem on a tactical vehicle.

• The m.u.t group has announced its transition from a GmbH into a Joint Stock Company under German law. The change is said by the company to be part of a strategy to expand production and development capacities. The former partners of the GmbH hold a majority position of the shares, while 30% are available for open trading. The founders, Hans Wörmcke and Sascha Otto, are now chairman of the supervisory board and head of the executive technology committee, the leading positions of the company.

• BAE Systems will design and develop a digitally enhanced night-vision goggle as part of the US Army's Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program, intended to use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness in the presence of battlefield obscurants. The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. BAE will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle, the same technology used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army.

• Plastic Logic, UK, has purchased an Aixtron Gen 3.5 deposition tool for thin-film deposition of the organic dielectric layer used in its manufacturing process for flexible organic TFT backplanes. It will be installed and integrated into the company's new manufacturing line for production of Gen 3.5 substrates under construction in Dresden by early 2008.

• Optical Short Course International has published an optical reverse-engineering analysis report on the Mitsubishi PK20 LED PocketProjector, intended for use by supply chain, R&D, product design or field service personnel. It describes the light engine, high-brightness LEDs, heat sinks, projection lens and other manufacturing specifications of the product.

People

• Luxtera, the US developer of CMOS photonics, has appointed Greg Young as president and CEO. Young was previously a vice president at Broadcom. He succeeds Alex Dickinson, who will remain on the board of directors.

• Michael Bereziuk has been appointed chief operating officer of Tessera, having previously served as an executive vice president. He will be responsible for the company's packaging, interconnect, and consumer optics businesses, which includes research and development, marketing, and sales. Prior to joining Tessera, Bereziuk spent the majority of his career at national Semiconductor Corporation.

• J P Sercel Associates has appointed Randy Castillo as field service engineer. Castillo previously worked for Honeywell, ESI, Laser Services, and most recently Laser Advantage, and his responsibilities will include customer service and response as well as applications support.

• Hubertus Dornieden has joined the board of Linos Photonics, taking over commercial responsibilities from Volker Brockmeyer. Dornieden will be in charge of the financial accounting, human resources and general administration departments, as well as continuing to serve as a senior executive of Linos AG. Linos Photonics now has three directors, the others being Volker Brockmeyer and Mario Ledig.