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JULY 13th, 2005
Redfern Integrated Optics, Inc. (RIO), an optical chip and foundry services company, has secured $6.2 million in
financing from Advent International, Tallwood Venture Capital, TMT Ventures and Redfern Photonics Pty Ltd. The company plans
to continue its focus on the 10G market through its focus on low cost 40/80 kilometer Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
(DWDM) XFP-compatible TOSAs (Transmitter Optical Sub-Assembly)." According to Radu Barsan, CEO of RIO, "In addition to the
customer validation that RIO has secured to date and the development of the 10G market, this financing puts us in an excellent
position to capitalize on our breakthrough platform technology. Such financial support represents a significant endorsement
of RIO's value proposition and will enable us to continue to meet the growing needs of our customers for high-performance,
low-cost 40/80km and DWDM XFP-compatible TOSAs.”
The company indicated also that the financing would be used to complete the development of its initial products,
increase its product line and bring production up to commercial levels.
The company’s External Cavity Laser (ECL) product is marketed as a low-cost alternative to the typical costly,
low yielding hybrid solution that is used to integrate modulated lasers (made with Indium Phosphide - InP) the Distributed
Feedback (DFB) laser and the Electro-Absorbtion (EA) modulator. The ECL product integrates together an InP gain chip, which
is a modified Fabry-Perot diode and a Photonic Lightwave Circuit (PLC). The company trademarks the solution as
“Telecom performance at Ethernet cost."
RIO also offers to its customers a silicon-based optical foundry
service for the development of photonic designs. Among the serviced provided include design, modeling, prototype, assembly
and test services.
XFP is the standard adopted by the XFP MSA group and refers to 10
Gbit Small Form Factor Pluggable. The goal of the group is to provide a low cost standard module design for the implementation
10 Gibabit per second data communications solutions. The group’s founding members include Broadcom, Brocade, Emulex
Corporation, Finisar, ICS (a Sumitomo Electric company), JDS Uniphase, Maxim Integrated Products, ONI Systems, Tyco Electronics
and Velio.
JULY 13th, 2005
LNL Technologies, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded
patent number 6,915,029 on July 5th, 2005 by the United States Patent Office. The two inventors were Kevin K. Lee and Desmond
R. Lim, also of Cambridge.
JULY 8th, 2005
NeoPhotonics, which recently merged with Photon Technology Co.,
Ltd. has received an investment of $1 million from Harris & Harris Group, a company known for investments in micromachine
technology. Photon Technology is a vertically integrated manufacturer of optical components for use in the passive optical
network (PON) market. The company fabricates its laser diode and pin photodetector chips and then packages the chips into
components, such as transceivers and transceiver modules. The company integrates active and passive elements to produce what
it terms are "Optical Systems on a Chip".
With the merger between NeoPhotonics and Photon Technology, the
new company retains the name of NeoPhotonics Corp. The new NeoPhontonics has 1,200 employees and it sales are expected to
exceed $50 million in 2005.
JUNE 22nd, 2005
Lumera Obtains Order and Patent for Electro-Optic Modulator
Lumera Corporation (NASDAQ:LMRA) announced that it has received an order for its electro-optic
modulators. Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) placed the order for the high-speed chips, which operate in the 10-100 GHz range.
According to Lumera’ Chief Executive Officer Tom Mino, "We are pleased to have received this order from a company of
Raytheon's caliber. Raytheon's selection of our product is further evidence of a growing interest in the superior qualities
and commercial viability of our polymer modulators. "The acceptance of our electro-optic products in applications by commercial
and government related engineering organizations validates Lumera's capabilities and could create a significant revenue opportunity
in these growing markets.”
With the announcement of the order Lumera also said that it has
been awarded its seventh United States patent. U.S. patent number 6,902,871 refers to the mass production of electro-optical
devices. The devices are based on waveguides that feature near 90-degree vertical walls and smoother surfaces for higher operating
speeds.
MAY 17th, 2005
NanoOpto Closes Round C - $2.5 Million
NanoOpto Corporation, a company that has found a way to produce low-cost optical components
and chips with a proprietary nano-fabrication technology, has closed a $2.5 million round. Financiers to the oversubscribed
round include Masters Capital Nanotechnology, LLC, and Nanostart AG. The funding for NanoOpto now totals $46 million to date.
MAY 13th, 2005
CyOptics, a producer of optical chips and components for broadband
applications, has closed its Series F round of funding, valued at $24 million. The funding capped off an announcement that
CyOptics had completed the acquisition of TriQuint's optoelectronic operations, expected to further expand CyOptics’
operations in the Indium Phosphide (InP) optical chip market. The cost of the acquisition was estimated at $23.5 million.
CyOptics listed its Series F round participants as JVP (Jerusalem
Venture Partners), Sprout Group, TowerBrook Capital Partners and Eurofund.
CyOptics, which has a high-volume nanotechnology robotic manufacturing
process that permits optical engines to be produced that are five times smaller than other competitors, emphasizes the repeatability
and low cost of its final products, which include a complete line of InP chips and laser and detector components. CyOptics
was founded in 1999.
MAY 3rd, 2005
The Montreal Physics Technologies and Photonics Centre (CEPHOM)
has secured $498,840 through the Minister of Canada Economic Development. In the announcement for the award, The Honourable
Jacques Saada, Minister of Canada Economic Development and Minister indicated that the reasons were related to global competitiveness,
"In a context of very stiff competition from Asian countries, CEPHOM can make a difference by helping local firms develop
competitive products and processes and keeping high value added activities here. CEPHOM has everything it takes to make Quebec
a world-class centre of excellence in optics/photonics."
Pierre Thibault, Director of CEPHOM emphasized the importance of
the funding and the organization's mission, "We are very pleased that CEPHOM's project, initiated by the Andre-Laurendeau
and John Abbott CEGEPS, is receiving funding from the federal government. This contribution is important for the development
of our organization by helping us fulfil our mission, which is to promote the implementation of optics/photonics technologies
in all Quebec enterprises and to support businesses in this sector improve their productivity."
CEPHOM is an organization that promotes the transfer of technology
among optics and photonics firm. The organization plans to utilize its laboratory and the funding to further develop optic
and phontonic communications and information technology.
APRIL 25th, 2005
Alphion Corporation, a company with integrated circuit photonic
technology, has closed a third round of funding valued at $10.6 million. This brings the company's funding to date to $42.6
million. Alphion lists the lead investor as Tallwood Venture Capital and the investment participants as Goldman Sachs, Axiom
Venture Partners, ICCP Venture Partners, Narra Venture Capital, and industry executives.
Several of the investment firms and the CEO commented on the Alphion.
Sam McKay, General Partner at Axiom Venture Partners, said "Alphion is emerging as a leader in photonic integrated circuits.
We are very excited about this investment. Alphion's QLight(TM) technology platform addresses a broad spectrum of customer
needs and is being deployed in a wide variety of applications." While William Valtos Jr., Senior Managing Director of ICCP
Venture Partners commented, "We are very enthusiastic about Alphion's growth potential. The recent addition of Alphion's QLight(TM)
Amp and Switch product lines to the photonic transponder line, demonstrates the versatility of the QLight(TM) technology platform."
Dr. Bharat P. Dave, CEO of Alphion emphasized the customers and end markets for the QLight Technology Platform, "We have received
extensive validation from metro, long-haul, CATV and defense customers. This strong endorsement from new and existing investors
demonstrates the confidence they have in both the Alphion team and our vision for photonic integration. This funding will
allow us to expand our QLight(TM) product family while addressing new applications in datacom, telecom and high performance
networking."
QLight products are based on an Indium Phosphide (InP) integrated
circuit manufacturing process technology and are protected by over 35 issued and pending patents that cover the design, fabrication
and applications of the products.
APRIL 14th, 2005
NanoOpto Corporation, a nanofabrication based optical integrated
circuit and component company, has added $1 million more to its Series C round funding of $12 million with an investment by
Itochu Corporation. The investment was spurred by the promise of a technology that is expected to lower costs. According to
Hiroo Inoue, COO of Itochu's IT and Business Solutions Division., "Itochu is excited by NanoOpto's innovative technology and
its potential for redefining optical circuit applications - leading to lowered costs and improved capability, Itochu looks
forward to working with NanoOpto to realize the large and growing market potential for nano-optic devices."
Barry Weinbaum, CEO of NanoOpto indicated the direction of the company,
"Given our successful introduction of several new products over the last year, NanoOpto is now strongly focused on market
growth. This increases the importance of strong market intelligence and contacts, and so we are pleased to have Itochu join
our group of investors."
End markets for NanoOpto's products include communications, digital
imaging, optical drives and projection display.
APRIL 13th, 2005
Picolight Inc., which manufactures optical integrated circuits and
components, has passed the $90 million funding mark with $13 million from lead investor, Capital Coral Capital Management
and two other venutre capital firms, BA Venture Partners and Vesbridge Partners. The company has planned to seek further financing
in the order of $4 million to $7 million in the second quarter of 2005.
Steve Hane, Picolight's President and CEO, "This funding round validates
the tremendous progress we made through the second half of 2004 and into the first quarter of 2005, and will help us commence
volume shipments of 1310nm VCSEL-based products while building on our early lead in this rapidly emerging market for better-performing,
more economical enterprise, storage area and metro network interconnect technology, The combination of this capital commitment,
steadily improving market conditions, and with our growing customer traction across multiple product lines positions us to
execute the focused growth plan we put into place during the second half of 2004. Our goal is to achieve profitability by
the end of 2005."
Todd Ortberg, a newly appointed member of Picolight's board of directors
also commented, "Picolight has maintained significant advantages in terms of new and existing 850nm VCSEL-based products,
ownership of the key sub-components, a strong patent portfolio on VCSEL technology, and 1310nm VCSEL technology leadership
in both enterprise, storage area and metro area networks."
Picolight with the announcement also reported that its revenue increased
more than 125 percent in first quarter of 2005 from levels seen in the first quarter of 2004. The growth was attributed
to demand from the 10 G Ethernet and parallel optics market.
APRIL 6th, 2005
Lumera Corporation (NASDAQ:LMRA) has announced it has received
its fifth United States patent, which relates to the light stability of electro-optic polymers, a critical concern for those
in this disruptive market. The patent, entitled "Highly stable and efficient nonlinear optical chromophores for electro-optic
polymers," was assigned U.S. patent number 6,864,375.
PSI-TEC Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of PSI-TEC Holdings,
Inc. (Pink Sheets: PTHO), also a player in the market, reported recently that it has filed a patent related to a novel
material design based on nanomaterials referred to electro-optic plastics. Frederick Goetz, President and CEO of PSI-TEC,
in reference to the patent filing talked about stability, "Performance is extremely important, and we believe our material
designs will far outperform any other electro-optic material in existence, but stability is the real Achilles' heel of electro-optic
plastics. Stability is the dirty little secret that scientists in this field don't like to talk about."
Electro-optics are fundamental to optical interconnects. Optical
interconnects are expected to overcome the speed limitations associated with standard metal based integrated circuit and board
level interconnect technology used today. Because of this, electro-optic technology is expected, once mature, to be broadly
applied in the design of integrated circuits and systems and a host of other applications across the spectrum of science of
technology.
APRIL 6th, 2005
Big Bear Networks, a company that offers both network chips and
modules, has introduced a family of 10GBASE-LRM transponders. These transponders, which are based on the IEEE 802.3aq draft
standard, enable the transmission of 10 Gbps data over 300 meters of multi-mode fiber for Fiber Distributed Data Interface
(FDDI) applications. According to Big Bear, critical to the transponders performance is the advanced Big Bear electronic
dispersion compensation integrated circuit inside. Big Bear indicates that the chip compensates for the significant signal
distortion noted at 10 Gbps in multimode fiber.
Big Bear President and CEO Amit Jain, commented on the market
potential, "The installed base of FDDI optical cable is estimated to be more than 60% of the existing fiber used in
enterprises to connect switches to each other. As more desktop connections are Gigabit Ethernet enabled, the aggregated risers
in buildings need to be upgraded to 10GbE, utilizing the ubiquitous multi-mode fiber. We believe the market opportunity for
Big Bear is tremendous."
MARCH 23rd, 2005
NanoOpto Corporation, a company that has developed the nano-pattern
transfer technique to fabricate optical nano-structures on wafer substrates, has closed its third round of financing, valued
at $12 million. To date NanoOpto has raised $42.3 million in funding. The last round, Round C, was led by First Analysis,
and was joined by other existing investors, which included Morgenthaler Ventures, the Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ); well
known micromachine and nanotechnology investment company, Harris & Harris Group; and U.S. Trust's Excelsior Venture Partners
III, L.L.C.
NanoOpto, which already has its nanooptical system building blocks
in volume production, fabricates its optical chips on optical wafers. The fabrication technique is reported to allow the same
benefits of standard integrated circuit wafer fabrication: low cost, high yield and high volume production capacity. NanoOpto's
first three products included the NanoOpto SubWave Polarizer, NanoOpto SubWave Polarization Beam Splitter/Combiner (PBS/C),
and NanoOpto SubWave Waveplates. In 2005 NanoOpto has announced a number of new products. These so far have included IR cut-off
filters for the digital imaging market, waveplates for the optical data storage market, and optical isolators, which are used
as communications transceivers. NanoOpto's products have been designed to operate in systems based on UV (Ultraviolet), visible,
and IR (Infrared) wavelengths.
According to Barry Weinbaum, President and CEO of NanoOpto Corporation,
"NanoOpto is now in volume production, shipping its unique optical devices to a broad range of markets, including optical
disk drives, digital imaging, projection displays, and communications." Greg Blonder, General Partner at Morgenthaler Ventures,
one of the investors in the company substantiated NanoOptic's as a real company with a real product. He commented, "Over the
past four years, NanoOpto has evolved from a nascent technology platform to shipping real products to customers in real markets."
MARCH 8th, 2005
Optical MEMS Company, Gemfire, Acquires Assets
of Newport Opticom
In
a move to enhance its production capabilities, Gemfire Corporation, a Photonic Integrated Circuit company, completed the acquisition
of the assets of Newport Opticom Inc. (NOI). With the acquisition, Gemfire acquired NOI's advanced switch technology, a technology
that can be used in Gemfire's passive silica Planar Light Circuits (PLC) and Si-polymer PLC waveguide fabrication. The move
is seen as a way to expedite NOI's product commercialization efforts. Gemfire's eight inch MEMS and silica wafer fabrication
facility and process know-how is expected to shorten NOI's manufacturing, design and development time NOI had used MEMS foundry,
where the product manufacturing cycle has been noted to be lengthy. Because MEMs design is intricately tied to the manufacturing
process, foundries without solid MEMS process development experience can turn out to be a roadblock to quick commercialization.
MARCH 7th, 2005
Indium Phosphide Foundry Services Now Available
Indium Phosphide chips, which
lately has been a popular investment of venture capitalists, can now be made to order through the foundry services offered
by Avanex. Avanex offers Indium Phosphide (InP), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) technologies.
The company has over 15 years
experience in the manufacture of InP based chips and also offers an array of off-the-shelf InP based optoelectronic semiconductors.
These chips, which are used in medical, instrumentation and telecommunication applications include Fabry-Perot and distributed
feedback laser chips, monolithically integrated electro-absorption modulator laser (EML) chips, pump laser chips and photodiode
chips. Avanex's PowerBright line of integrated circuits are used for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and Time
Division Multiplexing (TDM) applications.
MARCH 7th, 2005
CMOS VOA From Kotura Rated 100X Faster Than MEMS
VOA
Kotura has available
for sampling its Ultra VOA 1030, which is a variable optical attenuator (VOA) built from a standard CMOS silicon process.
Kotura says the silicon photonic based VOAs are 100 times faster than MEMS VOAs and 1000 times faster than ordinary VOAs.
Their high speed VOA offer designers a choice component for transient control and wavelength tracking applications. The CMOS
VOA also includes power balancing and channel equalization functions.
Kotura goes on to state
that its existing line of VOA products, which include 4 and 8 channel Ultra VOA arrays, have achieved full Telcordia qualification
and are in volume manufacturing.
Kotura's VOA 1030,
also does not have any moving parts - free carrier absorption is used to produce the necessary attenuation. The 1030, which
goes into production in October 2005, will be displayed at Booth 2010 at the OFC/NFOEC Conference in Anaheim this week.
MARCH 7th, 2005
LIGHTCONNECT Ships 40,000 MEMS Based
VOA Device
Lightconnect with the shipment
of its 40,000th variable optical attenuator (VOA) reports that it now controls 50 percent of the VOA market. The company also
says it had 55 paying customers in 2004. The VOA market share also puts Lightconnect as a leader in the MEMS based component
and module market. Lightconnect's products are used in optical systems.
Lightconnect also has announced
that its Fast VOA 5000 has passed Telcordia based reliability standards. That MEMs based device has a tiny 5.4 mm diameter
and is controlled within a voltage range from just one to five volts. The device also has no epoxy in the light path and is
not effected by in-situ shock or vibration.
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