JDSU lays off workers, but still grows
JDS Uniphase (JDSU; San Jose, CA) announced 3,000 layoffs in its passive-component manufacturing operations in San Jose, CA, and Ottawa, Ont., Canada, confined primarily to manufacturing operations as a result of the current business environment. JDSU said it will continue to hire for key positions in high-growth product areas and will aggressively support new product development. A week prior to announcing the layoffs, JDSU bought Optical Process Automation (Melbourne, FL), a designer and manufacturer of automated and semiautomated systems for the manufacture of fiberoptic components and modules.
Corning cuts jobs while opening new plants
Corning Incorporated (Corning, NY) eliminated 825 jobs at its optical-components plants near Corning and Scranton, PA, amounting to about 15% of the 5,500 jobs in its photonic technologies business. But the company said demand remains strong for optical fiber and cable. Corning also announced plans to invest up to $400 million in a new optical-fiber manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City, OK, and broke ground in Fountain Valley, CA for a new optical-networking-devices manufacturing facility. Corning will also open a small-fiber-count cable assemblies manufacturing facility in Guadalajara, Mexico.
EXFO acquires expertise in EFOS and Vanguard
EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. (Quebec City, Canada) agreed to acquire EFOS Inc. (Mississauga, Ont., Canada), the developer of a process that uses ultraviolet and infrared light to cure photosensitive adhesives in the manufacture of optical components. The total transaction was worth approximately US $122 million. EXFO also announced that its affiliate, Burleigh Automation Inc., signed an agreement to purchase virtually all of the assets of Vanguard Technical Solutions Inc. (Tucson, AZ), an automation-equipment manufacturer that specializes in design and manufacturing of precision assembly equipment for the manufacturing floor.
Princeton Lightwave emerges from stealth mode
Princeton Lightwave Inc. (Cranbury, NJ) announced a suite of products ready for next generation optical networks. With a 90,000-sq. ft. highly automated manufacturing facility, PLI can deliver high-power Raman and EDFA pump modules, source lasers and its Broadband GainChips. Spun off of Sarnoff Corp. (Princeton, NJ) in the spring of 2000, the company raised $28.5 million in its first round of financing.
Cable giants agree on SONET diagnostic standards
Finisar Corp. (Sunnyvale, CA) and Hitachi Cable (Tokyo, Japan) have reached an agreement to standardize new digital diagnostic and monitoring functions in their respective SONET OC-48 small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical transceiver modules. The new functions will allow telecommunications companies to implement reliable performance monitoring more accurately and economically than with existing analog monitoring functions, according to Finisar.
Also in the news . . .
ThreeFive Photonics BV (Delft, Netherlands), which spun out of the Delft University of Technology earlier this year, is planning to offer monolithically integrated InP systems. . . . Corning subsidiary Thermo RGL (Rochester, NY; formerly the Richardson Grating Laboratory) is expanding its high-volume production facility to accommodate growing demand for its diffraction gratings. . . . Optical-network testing and measurement company Tektronix Inc. (Beaverton, OR) optioned a license agreement with Ultra Fast Optical Systems Inc. (Princeton, NJ) for its patented optical-switching inventions to address future high-speed optical measurements. . . . Optical networking components company iolon Inc. (San Jose, CA) completed a $53-million strategic-financing round led by Bowman Capital to complete development of its initial portfolio of tunable optical devices. . . . Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) has announced revised expectations for its quarter ending March 31, 2001 and for the 2001 calendar year because of a lower level of new orders and a slowdown in shipments.
John Grady