GRENOBLE, France, April 3, 2002 - Teem Photonics, a provider of ultra-compact photonic solutions for high bandwidth optical networks, has opened a US subsidiary located in New York City. Headed by Brian McCormack, US CEO and VP Global Sales, Teem Photonics Inc. aims to give the European-based company a more established US presence and bring its innovative products closer to its predominant customer-base.
"Many of our products are now Telcordia qualified and ready for volume sale to North American customers," says McCormack. "We are positioning ourselves in anticipation of the rollout of two major planar splitter product lines and an exciting new range of high performance small form factor amplifiers".
"A more established US presence will mean improved service", says Teem Photonics CEO Antoine Kevorkian. "Our product strategy has proved visionary in that the sudden change in the market has made it abruptly necessary for our customers to adopt solutions which reduce complexity and cost. We will strive to help them achieve these goals faster and better by operating close at hand".
Accessibility to key customers and a large prospect base narrowed the choice of location to the east coast. "We also needed to be strategically located to the factory in France, and comfortably manage the difference in time zone," added McCormack. "For these reasons, New York City seemed the number one choice."
Since the company' inception in 1998, Teem Photonics has used a mix of direct and indirect channels to penetrate markets worldwide. The company will continue to complement its direct sales activity with its US network of manufacturing representatives.
"Teem Photonics Inc. currently has a four allocated headcount, of which two positions are occupied" says McCormack. "By the end of the year, we plan to expand to have six-eight people performing sales and marketing functions".
Before joining Teem, Brian was Senior Vice President Worldwide Sales for Avici Systems Inc, the terabit switch router supplier. "Brian's abilities combine both a highly effective mastering of the sales process as well as excellent leadership, making him an ideal and experienced candidate to head our US operations", concludes Kevorkian.
Teem Photonics delivers ultra-compact photonic solutions for high bandwidth optical networks which accelerate growth and convergence of telephone, data, video and internet traffic.
Teem Photonics' highly integrated components enable its customers to design and produce smaller, lower cost, fault tolerant, and scalable systems that interface easily with existing and next-generation networks.
A spin-off from Schneider Electric in 1998, Teem leverages research and development experience going back ten years. Among its achievements are the invention and successful implementation of integrated amplifiers. Teem is the first company to offer erbium amplification on a chip. The company has implemented a highly automated manufacturing process and has been shipping components and modules since 1999. Teem has built a strong list of customers in the optical communications market.
The company has production facilities in France and offices in the USA, as well as distributors in Asia and Europe. It is staffed by an internationally experienced, market-oriented management team.
Laser Focus World