Bookham realigns manufacturing resources
Taking advantage of its acquisition of Marconi's (London, England) optical component business earlier this year, Bookham Technology (Oxfordshire, England) will concentrate its worldwide production in two of four facilities. The company will manufacture ASOC components at its Milton, England, facility and active components at its Caswell, England, site. Through an ongoing process efficiency program, the company believes that it can now handle component production rates of $306 million at Milton and similar levels at Caswell, permitting it to close its other two facilities in Columbia, MD, and Swindon, England. The company believes that these closures will reduce costs without adverse impact on manufacturing capacity or on future sales ramp-up.
TeraConnect streamlines with major layoffs
TeraConnect (Nashua, NH), a spin-off of BAE Systems (Nashua, NH), established in November 2000 to commercialize optoelectronic modules for high-bandwidth applications, laid off 14 of its 35 employees and is consolidating its manufacturing organization to preserve cash and better align the company's cost structure with current market opportunities, according to Patrick Riley, director of corporate communications. "TeraConnect has taken the decisive action we believe necessary to successfully navigate though the current downturn in the telecommunications industry," Riley said.
NGK forms new U.S. company
NGK Insulators (Tokyo, Japan) has formed a new U.S. company, NGK Electronics USA (Sunnyvale, CA) to function as a marketing and sales arm. With the establishment of the new company, sales and marketing functions for optical parallel interconnects and optical fiber arrays will be transferred from Optobahn (Torrance, CA) to NGK Electronics USA. Optobahn's sales offices in New Jersey and Los Angeles will remain unchanged and will operate as the new company's sales branches.
IntelCore Technologies to become Verrillon
IntelCore Technologies (North Grafton, MA) is changing its name to Verrillon in conjunction with the company's move to a new, larger headquarters facility dedicated to the development and high-volume production of specialty optical fiber. Abdel Soufiane, founder and CTO of Verrillon, noted the significance of the new name: "We are focused on developing and manufacturing new, innovative fibers for key photonics OEMs. We feel that the name Verrillon-derived from a French word connoting precision glasses-more clearly articulates our culture, technical focus, and strategic vision."
Tellium expects to lay off 200
Tellium (Oceanport, NJ) is implementing a business restructuring expected to reduce its workforce by 200. Continued deteriorating conditions in the telecommunications industry have contributed to the company's inability to secure additional customers and have caused current customers purchases to decline. The restructuring will result in a one-time charge of $7 million to $10 million in the June quarter associated with the workforce reduction. The company expects ongoing quarterly operating costs to be reduced by $5 million to $7 million as a result of the workforce reduction.
ProtoDel looks to U.S. market with new test lab
ProtoDel (London, England), a provider of fiberoptic components to the telecommunications, test and measurement, and gyro markets, has established a new testing laboratory that will enable the entire ProtoDel product range to be tested and checked for compliance with the Telecordia GR-1221 standard that is crucial to the U.S. and Canadian markets. "The new facility is another example of our commitment and plans for growth into the U.S. market," said Ian Giles, CEO and founder of ProtoDel. "By having this laboratory in-house, we can react quickly to customer needs and ensure that all new products are developed to the Telcordia requirement from the outset".
Hassaun A. Jones-Bey
Also in the news . . .
The diffractive MEMS-based DGE (Dynamic Gain Equalizer) manufactured by Lightconnect (Newark CA) has qualified for Telcordia GR-1209-CORE. . . . Auxora (Baldwin Park, CA), a provider of optical filter products for wavelength management and control, has completed its Series A financing round with an additional $3 million. This financing round brings the total investment in Auxora to $14.7 million. . . . Federal investment in telecommunications products and services will increase from $10.8 billion in FY2002 to $16.1 billion in FY2007, according to a report released in early June by Input (Chantilly, VA), a market research firm that tracks contract spending on technology in the federal government. . . . Transmode Systems (Stockholm Sweden), a provider of WDM technology and Net Insight (Stockholm, Sweden), a provider of real-time broadband infrastructure technology, have signed a partnership agreement to promote a joint solution for metro frontier networks.