Avanex launches 3S Photonics
Next-generation optical networks provider Avanex (Fremont, CA) finalized the sale of its French subsidiary, Avanex France, to its director Didier Sauvage and Global Research Company, held by Alexandre Krivine. Based in Marcoussis, France, Avanex France-formerly Alcatel Optronics-is a provider of optical modules and components for telecommunications networks. The company will be renamed 3S Photonics.
Avanex paid the purchasers nearly $17.3 million in anticipated operating capital, including current liabilities for previous restructuring activities. It maintains a 10% interest in the sold businesses, as well as privileged commercial partnerships. With over 100 employees, 3S Photonics is forecasting sales of $37 million for 2007.
Northrop Grumman consolidates gyro business
Northrop Grumman is in the process of closing two of its Navigation Systems Division facilities-one in Canton, MA, and the other in Westwood, MA (formerly Fibersense Technology). In January the company told employees at these facilities-which produce fiber-optic gyroscope technologies for navigation systems-that the operations would be consolidated with facilities in Salt Lake City, UT, and Woodland Hills, CA.
According to Jack Martin, director of public relations for Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems, the shutdown of the two sites will result in the eventual elimination of 149 jobs. However, a small number of employees are being offered an opportunity to transfer.
OSA & Corning sponsor communications award
The Optical Society of America (OSA) Foundation (Washington, DC) and Corning (Corning, NY) announced the establishment of a new student award competition. Created to recognize future leaders in the field of optical communications and made possible through an endowment from Corning, the Corning Outstanding Student Paper Award Competition will debut at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) in 2008.
The award will recognize student papers based on innovation, research excellence, and presentation skills. Students will be able to opt into the competition as part of the regular submission process for OFC/NFOEC 2008. The 10 to 12 papers receiving the highest scores will be considered finalists for the onsite component. The grand-prize recipient will receive $1500; papers of honorable mention will receive $1000 each. For additional details, visit www.ofcnfoec.org.
BOREAS-Net selects Infinera
The Broadband Optical Research, Education, and Sciences Network (BOREAS-Net)-a collaboration of major research institutions in the Midwest-selected Infinera (Sunnyvale, CA) for a regional optical network in the Upper Midwest. BOREAS-NET aims to provide connectivity for its members to each other and to major national and international networks, including Internet2, National Lambda Rail, the U.S. Department of Energy’s ESNet network, European science network GÉANT2, and Canadian research network CANARIE.
Discovery detectors selected for research
Discovery Semiconductors (Ewing, NJ) provided balanced photoreceivers to the University of Kiel (Kiel, Germany) for Kiel’s research on multilevel modulation formats for high-speed optical communications.
Werner Rosenkranz’s group at the University of Kiel is a leader in the field of advanced optical modulation formats. “This sophisticated modulation technique enables fiber-optic communications with more than three times higher spectral efficiency as compared to conventional techniques,” Rosenkranz said.
Also in the news . . .
Yokogawa Electric and Fujitsu Limited (both in Tokyo, Japan) announced the joint development of the world’s first practical 40 Gbit/s optical transmission technologies using differential quadrature phase-shift keying (DQPSK) modulation techniques. . . . Sterlite Optical Technologies’ (Pune, India) complete range of optical fibers were tested by the Institute of Testing & Certification (ITC; Zlín, Czech Republic) and were certified as compliant with the applicable requirements of the European RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive. . . . SIFAM Fibre Optics (Torquay, England) has shipped one million fused optical-fiber components. . . . Optiwave Systems (Ottawa, ON, Canada), provider of optical component and system design tools, released OptiSystem 6.0 to facilitate the simulation and design of emerging optical communication technologies. . . . CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, selected Fujikura (Tokyo, Japan) radiation-resistant single-mode optical fiber to provide communication links within the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland.