In a stock deal worth approximately $2 billion, Corning Incorporated (Corning, NY) is acquiring NetOptix Corp. (Sturbridge, MA), which manufactures thin-film filters for DWDM components. Included in the deal are two NetOptix subsidiaries--Optical Filter Corp., with an optical filter manufacturing facility in Natick, MA, and OFC GmbH, which is completing a facility in Hanau, Germany, for filter R&D and production. In another move to strengthen its position in the optical communications market, Corning has formed an equity venture with South Korea's Samsung Corp. called Samsung Corning Micro-Optics. The company, which will package thin-film filters for DWDM components of telecommunications systems, will be located in an existing Samsung facility in Suwon, South Korea.
Corning also announced it will work with British Telecommunications (BT) as a research partner in photonics technology. The deal will include the acquisition of BT's Photonics Technology Research Center (Suffolk, England), which conducts R&D in areas such as planar integrate optics, semiconductor optical amplifiers, electro-absorption modulators, and optical networking devices.—Paula Noaker Powell