SDL to acquire Veritech Microwave
At the end of February, SDL (San Jose, CA) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Veritech Microwave (South Plainfield, NJ), a privately held manufacturer of high-speed optoelectronic modules for long-haul undersea and terrestrial fiberoptic transmission systems. According to the agreement, SDL will issue 1.5 million shares of stock, valued at $590 million at the time of the announcement, in exchange for all of the stock of Veritech, which will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. "As the industry moves to 10- and 40-Gbit/s systems, our customers are demanding product modules with greater levels of functionality and performance," said Donald Scifres, SDL CEO and chairman. "Veritech, through its coplanar technology, has demonstrated what we believe is the best bit-error-rate performance at OC-192 data rates."
Optomec enlists Laser Fare in DARPA effort
Laser Fare ATG (Warwick, RI), a member of the Infinite Group's Laser and Photonics Group, has been awarded a $560,000 contract from Optomec (Albuquerque, NM), a spin-off company from Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM). The contract is intended to support an award recently received by Optomec from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to provide next-generation electronic devices. "This work is based on novel additive laser fabrication techniques," said Clifford G. Brockmyre, CEO of Infinite Group. "These direct-write technologies will enable rapid economical manufacturing of three-dimensional electronics devices with powerful applications in telecommunications."
Coherent to help research photomedicine
The Coherent Medical Group (Santa Clara, CA) has signed a multiyear research agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA) for the development of advanced photomedicine technologies and applications. The research will be carried out at the Wellman Laboratories in collaboration with faculty under the guidance of research director R. Rox Anderson, M.D., a recognized expert in both laser-tissue interactions and photonics. Separately, Coherent Inc. has also announced its first move into active components for WDM with its optically pumped semiconductor technology. The first prototypes produce 500 mW at 980 nm from the end of a fiber in a nontelecom-qualified package.
Laserscope divests industrial subsidiary
Laserscope (San Jose, CA) has sold its industrial laser marking subsidiary NWL Laser Technologies GmbH to Wavelight Laser Technologies AG for approximately $4 million. According to company president and CEO Eric Reuter, the transaction allows Laserscope to divest itself of its industrial segment while retaining distribution for medical products in Germany and Eastern Europe.
Sales and revenue up at Rofin-Sinar
Rofin-Sinar Technologies (Plymouth, MI) reported $1.6 million in income on revenues of $33.2 million for the first fiscal quarter (ended Dec. 31, 1999) compared to $374,000 in income on $28.6 million in revenue for the same period last year. High demand for diode-pumped laser markers in the semiconductor and electronics industry yielded record sales in the company's marking division, accounting for 39% of sales in the first quarter, compared to 28% for all of fiscal 1999. A new line of diode-pumped solid-state lasers for cutting and welding also sold well. The strong US dollar helped the company because many of its research and administrative expenses occurred in Europe.
Also in the news . . .
The Bertold Leibinger Stiftung (Ditzingen, Germany), an institution founded in 1992 to foster science and research, has created the Bertold Leibinger Innovationspreis, which will be awarded every two years for outstanding work in applied laser physics in production technology. . . . The Palm Bay, FL, optronics unit of DRS Technologies (Parsippany, NJ) has received a $7.2 million contract from Raytheon (Lexington, MA) for electro-optic sighting systems to be used in laser transmitter assemblies, traversing units for the US Army Improved Target Acquisition Subsystem, and xenon tracker assemblies.
Hassaun Jones-Bey
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