Sensors Unlimited separates from Finisar
Finisar (Sunnyvale, CA) has entered into a definitive agreement to sell certain assets and transfer certain liabilities of its Sensors Unlimited (Princeton, NJ) subsidiary to a new company formed by Sensors' current management group for $6.1 million in cash. Finisar will retain ownership of all of Sensors' intellectual property and will transfer all manufacturing and development activities for positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diodes and avalanche photodiodes (APDs) to other facilities within Finisar. The new company will license intellectual property associated with the development of cameras and photodiode arrays for military and industrial spectroscopy applications. The new company will assume the name "Sensors Unlimited" and continue to operate at Sensors' existing facility in Princeton, NJ. Finisar will retain a minority interest in the new company.
Kodak wins government contract
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA; Bethesda, MD), has chosen Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY) as a prime contractor on its Softcopy Search project, designed to provide a more efficient and effective way to detect changes of significance in large imagery datasets. A key element of the solution centers on Intergraph's (Huntsville, AL) new GeoMedia Image Professional software, which will provide the platform for integrating the component technologies. Compaq (Palo Alto, CA) and Toshiba e-Solutions (Tokyo, Japan) will configure best-in-class workstations and display platforms, while Paragon Imaging's (Woburn, MA) ELT/5500 Pro Electronic Light Table (ELT) and IDELIX's (Vancouver, British Columbia) Pliable Display Technology will deliver critical component capabilities to maximize performance.
USDC summit points to hot display areas
Medical imaging, mapping/navigation and digital photography are the leading applications that will power increased demand for high-resolution flat-panel displays (FPDs), but widespread adoption will be contingent upon the industry's ability to resolve such key hurdles as color standardization and software development. This conclusion emerged from the annual High-Resolution Display Systems Summit sponsored by the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC; San Jose, CA). The consensus among the more than 100 executives at the summit, cosponsored by the Army Research Laboratory (Adelphi, MD), Panoram Technologies (Sun Valley, CA) and ViewSonic (Walnut, CA), was that emerging applications and markets will accelerate industry and government demand for the enhanced viewing and productivity of high-resolution displays.
SoftLogic Solutions to distribute Optio Software
Optio Software (Atlanta, GA), a manufacturer of software that captures, transforms, and delivers information and data to allow automated processes, announced a certified value-added reseller partnership with SoftLogic Solutions (Ridgefield, CT), which provides integrated business and technology solutions. SoftLogic will resell Optio technology as a complement to its StratPro product, technology, and consulting that focuses on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. SoftLogic provides solutions from Microsoft (Redmond WA), Inxight Software (Kaysville, UT), Crystal Decisions (Palo Alto, CA), Qwest Software (Irvine, CA) and Oracle (Redwood City, CA).
Universal Display wins two-year Army contract
Universal Display (Ewing, NJ), has been awarded a two-year $2 million cooperative agreement by the U.S. Army Research Laboratories (ARL; Adelphi, MD) to develop technology to produce flexible, low-power-consumption organic light-emitting-diode displays and communication components for use in advanced, next-generation mobile communication devices. ARL is funding $1.2 million and the remaining $0.81 million is funded as "cost share" by the company and its subcontractors.
Also in the news . . .
CRL Opto (Middlesex, England), a supplier of high-esolution microdisplays, today announced that it has been selected by NVIS (McLean, VA) to be its sole supplier of SXGA (1280 ¥ 1024) resolution ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (FLCOS) reflective microdisplays. . . . DRS Technologies (Parsippany, NJ) has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Paravant (Morristown, NJ). . . . Genex Technologies (Kensington, MD), placed 257th on the 2002 Inc 500 ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies and was also awarded a 2002 ATP grant by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Gaithersburg, MD) to develop innovative solutions in 3-D facial recognition. . . . . Karl Storz Endoscopy-America (Montreal, Canada) and CBYON (Mountain View, CA), have entered a marketing alliance to integrate image guided technologies into a centrally controlled surgical system.
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