February 27, 2007, Milpitas, CA--Broadband optical networking equipment provider JDSU announced a definitive agreement to acquire Picolight (Louisville, CO), a designer and manufacturer of optical pluggable transceivers. Under the terms of the agreement, JDSU will acquire Picolight for approximately $115 million in JDSU stock, plus up to an additional $10 million in cash subject to the achievement of certain revenue targets during calendar year 2007.
With the addition of Picolight's pluggable optics technology, JDSU strengthens its ability to address the market for optical interconnect applications in the datacenter, enterprise, storage area, and metro networking markets. According to a recent study by LightCounting, the market for 10 Gbit Ethernet optical components used by enterprise-focused network equipment manufacturers, such as pluggable transceivers, is expected to grow from approximately $200 million in 2006 to over $650 million in 2010, at a 35 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
With over 1 million small form-factor pluggable products shipped, Picolight has been a pioneer in developing 850 nm and 1310 nm vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), a key technology used in high-speed and short-to-medium distance optical interconnects. "The combination of Picolight's VCSEL and datacom expertise with JDSU's global reach and resources will put a compelling new competitive presence in the market", said Steve Hane, Picolight president and CEO. "We believe we have an opportunity to alter the datacom optics landscape by creating a best-in-class product portfolio for datacenters and enterprise networks worldwide."
For more information, visit http://www.jdsu.com.