Laser Physics U.K. and ADM Photonics partner
Laser Physics U.K. (Cheshire, England) and ADM Photonics (Cheshire, England) entered into a strategic partnership that should help both companies provide a more comprehensive service to their customers. Products that are available from this partnership include fiberoptic instruments and components, lasers, laser-safety products, polarization components, and metrology and machine-vision systems.
Steren acquires assets of Lightwave Solutions
Steren Electronics International (San Diego, CA) acquired the assets of Lightwave Solutions (San Diego, CA). Lightwave Solutions, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Steren, will continue to serve the optical-transport market. Lightwave Solutions provides broadband optical-transport solutions for high-speed network operators. Steren designs and manufactures voice, video and data connectivity solutions and is an affiliate of Electrónica Steren S.A. (Mexico City), the largest wholesaler and retailer of electronics in Mexico.
Bookham announces new chairman and chief operating officer
Andrew Rickman, founder and chairman of Bookham (San Jose, CA), has stepped down as chairman and a member of the board of directors following 17 years of service. The board of directors appointed Peter Bordui to succeed Rickman as chairman of the board.
Rickman founded the company in 1988 and was CEO of the company from inception to February 2001. Bordui has served as a director since March 2004, joining the board following the acquisition by Bookham of New Focus, of which he was a director from 2001 to 2004. Before joining New Focus, Bordui served as vice president and general manager of Source Lasers for JDS Uniphase, a fiberoptic communications product manufacturer.
Jim Haynes was appointed chief operating officer of Bookham. In this capacity he is already managing all Bookham U.K. sites, which comprise approximately two-thirds of all employees and over three-quarters of the company’s shipments, and has been spearheading the move of the company’s product assembly operations to its new facility in China.
FiberLabs expands territory
FiberLabs (Saitam, Japan), a private corporation previously spun out of KDD Laboratories, is now selling its line of optical amplifiers and amplified-stimulated-emission sources in Canada and the United States through a team of manufacturers’ representatives. Region-wide sales, marketing, and technical support are provided through OgMentum (Sonoma, CA). FiberLabs’ broad line of products supports the O, S, C, and L bands and other wavelengths from 850 to 2000 nm.
ElectroniCast predicts broadband component growth
The total global deployment of components consumed in broadband-to-the-premises applications is forecasted by ElectroniCast (San Mateo, CA) to grow at an average rate of 13 percent per year, from $5.9 billion in 2003 to $10.8 billion in 2008.
“North America, recovering from the recession bottom of 2003, will achieve the fastest growth of broadband components deployment,” said Jeff D. Montgomery, founder and chairman of ElectroniCast. According to the study, Broadband-To-The-Premise Global Market Forecast, the North American share of global consumption will expand at an average annual rate of 15 percent from 2003 to 2008, then continue at an average 11 percent per year from 2008 to 2013.
Broadband components deployment in the Japan-Pacific Rim region is forecasted to expand at an impressive rate of 11 percent per year from 2003 to 2008, but is expected to level off over the 2008 to 2013 period.
Gail Overton
For more business news, subscribe to Optoelectronics Report. Contact Jayne Sears-Renfer at [email protected].
Also in the news . . .
OE Solutions (Santa Ana, CA), a global supplier of high-performance optoelectronic transceiver solutions for optical communications, announced the opening of its U.S. subsidiary, OE Solutions America, located in Santa Ana, CA. . . . Lightconnect(Newark, CA) shipped its 40,000th MEMS-based variable optical attenuator (VOA) to a large optical system manufacturer. . . . NeoPhotonics (San Jose, CA), a developer and manufacturer of planar-lightwave-circuit-based integrated optical modules and subsystems, has become the largest shareholder in Photon Technology (Shenzhen, China), following the acquisition of all of the formerly state-owned, shares, or approximately one-third of all outstanding shares, for consideration of cash and stock. . . . InnovaQuartz (Phoenix, AZ) acquired the 3M (West Haven, CT) TECS multimode optical-fiber product line and moved the TECS/Power Core multimode-fiber production business to its new fiber draw facility in Phoenix.