Ritekom Photonics opens first U.S. office
RiteKom Photonics Corp. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) has entered the U.S. market with a new office in Foster City, CA. The company intends to establish a local presence with networking-equipment makers and carriers by offering transceivers, optical fiber, a variety of fiber cable, and passive optical components at competitive prices, through the use of the manufacturing facilities in Taiwan. The U.S. office will serve as the launching pad for RiteKom's international business plans and will provide immediate technical support for U.S. customers. "We see a huge shift in the future manufacturing of optical components for the global marketplace," said Kao Feng Tsai, president and CEO of RiteKom Photonics Corp.
Tellabs and White Rock collaborate in metro
Under the terms of a newly signed original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement, Tellabs (Naperville, IL) will integrate White Rock Networks (Richardson, TX) products into the Tellabs optical transport system to create an enhanced metro dense wavelength-division-multiplexing-based service-delivery platform. In addition, Tellabs will manage, market, sell, and support the White Rock products as an integrated part of the Tellabs optical transport system beginning in June. "Our agreement with White Rock Networks provides Tellabs with new technology that delivers to customers another way to offer revenue-generating services quickly," said Scott Steele, vice president of product strategy and portfolio management for Tellabs.
Fonar and Biophan collaborate
Biophan Technologies (Rochester, NY) announced that Raymond Damadian, co-inventor of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CEO of Fonar Corp. (Melville, NY), a manufacturer of MRI diagnostic equipment, will work with Wilson Greatbatch, inventor of the pacemaker, on the development of an MRI-compatible pacemaker. Both men are recipients of the National Medal of Technology. Fonar will offer its equipment, labs, and staff to assist Greatbatch and the Biophan team. "Wilson Greatbatch and I first discussed the pressing need for a solution three years ago at the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where we are both inductees," Damadian said. "Biophan's MRI-compatible pacemaker offers a redesign of the pacemaker that eliminates the safety concerns completely. I am thrilled to know that with this invention, pacemaker patients will be able to benefit from an MRI."
VSK Photonics extends financing round
VSK Photonics Inc. (Lake Forest, CA) has extended its Series A financing round with an additional $8.3 million, led by Rustic Canyon Ventures (Santa Monica, CA). Existing investors Morgenthaler (Menlo Park, CA) and Intel Capital (Santa Clara, CA) also participated. This brings the total investment in VSK Photonics to $26.3 million. Morgenthaler and Intel Capital provided the first-round investment of $18 million, which was announced in March 2001. The company plans to use the funds to continue expansion of its manufacturing and marketing organizations, and to help bring its products to market this year. VSK Photonics uses indium phosphide (InP) semiconductor technology to deliver high-speed (10- and 40-Gbit/s) optoelectronic-component solutions for next-generation optical networks. VSK recently opened its state-of-the-art InP fabrication plant in southern Los Angeles that is capable of manufacturing in excess of 10 million devices a year.
Also in the news . . .
Silicon Light Machines, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor (San Jose, CA), took another step into the optical-communication market with its first optical-networking sub-system, a dynamic-gain equalizer (DGE) for dense wavelength-division-multiplexing communication systems. . . . American Fiber Systems (AFS; Rochester, NY) announced that its Salt Lake City metropolitan dark-fiber network is operational and already in use. The nearly 40-mile AFS dark-fiber ring winds through Salt Lake City's metropolitan area and surrounding communities. In addition to Salt Lake City, AFS has also deployed dark-fiber metropolitan networks in Kansas City, Nashville, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Cleveland. . . . Industrial Fiber Optics (Tempe, AZ) has begun manufacturing and marketing fiberoptic couplers/splitters for plastic optical fiber. . . . Altra Broadband (Irvine, CA) has completed a dense subcarrier multiplexing (xDSM) transceiver board for broadband networking that has been used to transmit data at speeds greater than 1 Gbit/s on fiberoptic-communication links with 3.5-km reach on multimode fiber, representing a 10X improvement over the IEEE Gigabit Ethernet Standards. . . . Praxair Inc. (Danbury, CT) has opened a new demonstration facility in Niagara Falls, NY that offers fiberoptics manufacturers first-hand operating experience and evaluation of helium recovery technology.