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Editorial: Does This Conclude the Shake Ups at JDS Uniphase?
... We can only hope. If the creator of Doonesbury was cartooning the rise and fall of the telecom business over the last few years, he'd probably depict the retiring CEO and co-Chairman of JDS Uniphase, Jozef Straus, as at the center of it all, drawing only the beard and...
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August 22, 2003...JDS Uniphase of Ottawa, Canada and San Jose, California USA has announced that
its founder, Jozef Straus (CEO and Co-Chairman) and Syrus Mandavi, President/COO,
are stepping down from their offices and that it will close the Ottowa operation
and consolidate in San Jose. The new CEO will be Kevin Kennedy. The consolidation to San Jose, which
is a noted compound semi MOCVD-based semiconductor laser facility, bodes well
for the reinstatement of compound semi-based systems as JDSU gets back on track.
Details of the senior management changes are included in the company
news release with the current spin available on Reuters,
but what matters most to our readership are those assuming the new leadership
slots. Kevin Kennedy, age 46, has been a director at JDS Uniphase Corporation
since November, 2001 and hails from San Jose. Since August 2001, he has served
as COO of Openwave Systems, prior to which he spent 7 years with Cisco, last as Senior Vice President of the Service Provider Line of Business and Software Technologies Division, and previously spent 17 years at Bell Laboratories. Dr. Kennedy is also a Director of Openwave Systems, Quantum Corporation and Rambus.
Vitesse Completes Acquisition of Multilink and Avanex Acquires Vitesse Transponder
BizAugust 22, 2003...Keeping up with compound semi foundry pioneers at Vitesse Semiconductor of
Camarillo, California USA has never been easy, as a sort of whether they're
in or out of the compounds appears to be an ever-evolving process. News over
the past few days relating to Vitesse is that Vitesse has officially completed
their acquisition of Multilink Technology Corporation of Somerset, New Jersey.
The stock transaction of approximately 4.2 million shares of Vitesse stock going
to Multilink can be estimated at about $29.4 million given Vitesse's closing
stock price on August 21 at around $7/share. Company
news release. More details can be found on Multilink's company
news release. And on August 22, Avanex of Fremont, California USA, announced
that it has signed an agreement with Vitesse to acquire the assets of Vitesse's
optical systems division which will result in expanding Avanex' portfolio of
transponders. Vitesse's Optical Systems Division is located in San Jose, California.
Under the terms of the agreement, Avanex will acquire "substantially all
of the assets" of Vitesse's Optical Systems Division in exchange for approximately
1.2 million shares of Avanex common stock. Based on the closing price of Avanex's
stock on August 19, 2003, the transaction has a value of approximately $6 million.
Under the terms of the agreement, Avanex will also buy up to $2 million in products
from Vitesse over the next three years. Walter Alessandrini, Chairman, President
and Chief Executive Officer of Avanex, noted, "The acquisition of this business
will enhance our already strong presence in transponders and expand our customer
traction in subsystem products. Avanex will have a competitive cost structure
by leveraging the world-class component capabilities we acquired this year from
Alcatel and Corning. In addition, through our future relationship with Vitesse,
a leader in high speed communication integrated circuits, we believe that Avanex
will have a significant advantage in developing intelligent solutions that integrate
optics, electronics, firmware and software." Avanex provides what they call
"Intelligent Photonic Solutions" targeted to meet the needs of fiberoptic
communications networks moving to greater capacity, longer distance transmissions,
improved connectivity, higher speeds and lower costs. Avanex was incorporated
in 1997 and is headquartered in Fremont, Calif. Avanex also maintains facilities
in Erwin Park, NY; Livingston, UK; Nozay, France; and San Donato, Italy. Company
news release. Kopin Leverages the Fan Chair at NCSU by Licensing Oxide PatentsAugust 22, 2003...Kopin Corporation of Taunton, Massachusetts USA has announced that it has licensed
Oxide-based intellectual property belonging to North Carolina State University
(NCSU) that Kopin says will provide the company with its next generation of
CyberLite LEDs. The NCSU incubator has, in the past, spun out compound
semi companies Cree Inc. and Nitronex. The patents that Kopin have licensed,
exclusively, are being generically called "Domain Epitaxy" and include
two patents on cubic Zinc-Magnesium-Oxide (ZnMgO) and Zinc-Cadmium-Oxide (ZnCdO).
The oxide-related patents could conceivably compete with GaN-based HB-LED devices. Also of note is that Kopin uses Aixtron MOCVD tools, and Aixtron is one of the few tool makers addressing the oxide market. According to Kopin, these patents are important because they can be used to
produce LEDs and lasers of any color across the visible spectrum, including
the three primary colors needed for white LEDs. All three patents were invented
by Professor Jagdish Narayan and his team at NCSU. Professor Narayan was named
as the John C. C. Fan Family Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and
Engineering in May 2003. The endowed chair is named after Dr. John C. C. Fan,
founder and CEO of Kopin Corporation. Leveraging these academic "chairs"
are becoming a common practice between companies and universities. The "Cree
chair" at UCSB, for example, which included a $1 million grant, went to
blue spectrum pioneer Shuji Nakamura. For those residing in countries where
the custom of "university chairs" is unfamiliar, these aren't actual
chairs to sit on, they are actually specific and very targeted financial grants
which often include "in kind" privileges between companies and universities.
Whereas Cree founders hailed from NCSU themselves, John Fan received his PhD
from MIT and upon the founding of Kopin, was closely aligned to MIT during Kopin's
startup years. Company
news release. SET Scores AlGaN/GaN "MOSHFET" Oxide Heterointerface PatentAugust 22, 2003...Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (SET) of Columbia, South Carolina USA has
been issued what could be a very pivotal GaN electronic USA patent. Title of
the patent is "Metal Oxide Semiconductor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistor"
(MOSHFET) which is an AlGaN/GaN device, designed by SET principals and GaN experts
(and RPI professors) Dr. Remis Gaska and Dr. Michael Shur. The patent could
well become the first commercially viable compound semiconductor MOS transistor.
According to the inventors, the device has demonstrated superior performance
compared to conventional GaN-based and GaAs and InP based transistors. We'll
be covering this patent in more detail when we get the exact number and facts,
but suffice to note that the main reason why MOS approach is working for AlGaN/GaN-based
transistors is a very high electron sheet density in the device channel (more
than 10-15 times higher that in comparable AlGaAs/GaAs based HEMTs), which evidently
suppresses parasitic effects related to the charge trapped at Oxide/AlGaN heterointerface.
According to the inventors, who are also authors of with Arturas Zukauskas of
the new textbook, Introduction to Solid State Lighting, these ultra-high
power MOSHFET transistors are expected to be the key building blocks for microwave
power amplifiers (MPAs) that amplify radio-frequency signals and are central
pieces in transmit/receive modules of both military and commercial radars and
communications systems, including networks of base stations for wireless communications.
SET is heavily supported by the USA's prestigious DARPA and Missile Defense
(MDA) agencies in the DoD. Michael Shur was recently honored by CompoundSemi
Online for his outstanding pioneering work in GaN at the Blue
2003 event in Dallas this June and has been an instructor of CS Online's
notable 101 workshops
at CS Outlook conferences.
Company news release. Veeco to Webcast Silicon/Compound Semi "Convergence" Seminar Sept. 9August 22, 2003...The St. Paul, Minnesota USA arm of Veeco Instruments Inc. noted for its leading
edge contributions to MBE epitaxy technology (formerly known as "EPI-MBE"
and "Applied Epi") is hosting a unique seminar on what Veeco feels
is a recognizable trend towards the convergence of the silicon and compound
semi industries. The seminar, titled just that, is being held at the St. Paul
Veeco facility on September 9 in conjunction with the official opening of the
company's new Process Integration Center (PIC) in St. Paul. To broadcast the
news to as wide an interested audience as possible, the seminar is being made
available to the general public via webcast. Why the emphasis on convergence
of these two normally distant semiconductor industries? "The need to produce
ever-thinner and higher purity films is fueling the convergence of the silicon
and compound semiconductor industries," said Marlin Braun, Vice President
and General Manager, Veeco MBE Operations. "This seminar will present the
market dynamics, material sets, and advanced devices pulling compound semiconductors
into production applications for the semiconductor, data storage and lighting
industries." Attendees at and listeners of the seminar will also learn how
Veeco's new epitaxial PIC has been established to is enable this industry convergence.
"The silicon and compound markets need to integrate tools and processes,"
said Dr. Hwa Cheng, Director, Veeco PIC. "Our PIC and its MBE production
tools, both modeled after those in the silicon industry, can provide these integrated
solutions." We look forward to listening in and reporting on the seminar.
Details and the impressive lineup of seminar speakers are available over the
company website at www.veeco.com. Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888 |
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The
McDonald Report
Commentary & Perspective...
Does This Conclude the Shake Ups at JDS Uniphase?August 22, 2003...We can only hope. If the creator of Doonesbury was cartooning the rise and
fall of the telecom business over the last few years, he'd probably depict the
retiring CEO and co-Chairman of JDS Uniphase, Jozef Straus, as at the center
of it all, drawing only the beard and black beret, fiercely manning a little
bicycle pump creating a huge bubble destined to burst. The Bubble.
As JDSU (very like Nortel Networks and others...) acquired compound semi company
after compound semi company, the most notable being SDL in San Jose, California
USA, we can't help but read this headline news and recall that memorable level
of obvious inflated value and artificial highs, which ended up changing a lot
of peoples' lives... and lifestyles.
Jozef Straus is almost as colorful as GE's Jack Welch. (FYI... Jack
Welch himself was at the heart of creating GELcore.) Straus heavy accent
and unfailing optimism is novel-fodder. But when the dust finally settles, what
do you bet that it's the guys from San Jose who end up in charge.
We'll get to know the new CEO, Kevin Kennedy... and see how he's able to steer the rather large ship. That's rather more relevant than profiling those relinquishing
the helm. (See top news, this issue). In this, the commentary side of
the news, suffice to say we're now truly optimistic about the possible rebirth
of JDS Uniphase, especially if the consolidation to San Jose means that the
SDL people will be getting strong again. Maybe they'll even recover enough to
eventually hire some of those wonderful workers wandering around silicon valley
these days, wondering if there will ever again be a traffic jam and actual commute
hour again... and a resumption of long waiting lines for lunch and dinner at
the Bay Area restaurants.
SDL was one of our most impressive compound semi industry companies,
ever. Once acquired, it became one of the quietest of operations, which
often happens when someone really big gobbles up one of our finest. What with
Sensors Unlimited buying itself back from Finisar for a fraction of its selling
price to Finisar, what with Spire re-acquiring Bandwidth, TriQuint and
Bookham respectively absorbing Agere's and Nortel's opto businesses, it wouldn't
surprise me at all if they've somehow figured how to get SDL back to its
rightful prominent and highly visible place in the community, thus bringing
it back to a natural growth and prosperity curve. CS Outlook in December is
going to be very interesting this year with all these unprecedented shifts underway.
Our industry could very well end up with even more of the semiconductor pie
than it ever thought possible. Welcome Dalian Luming to the CommunityAugust 22, 2003...There's another new company name to add to the compound semi industry's opto
community. In the English form, the name to remember is "Dalian Luming."
It is based in Dalian, China and the company's whole name is: Dalian Luminlight
Science and Technology Company, Ltd. Their website has the "g" in
Luming, www.luminglight.com.
They're reinforcing the English version of the name on the website with the
slogan, "Dalian Luming Creates Light." The company was founded
in 1992 and is noted for its expertise in photoluminescent pigment and luminescent
products such as those used in fire protection gear. All indications are that
they will be soon expand into the manufacture of MOCVD-based HB-LEDs and VCSELs.
As to how and when... stay tuned. In the meantime, it doesn't hurt to
bone up on where and how their current products are used, as those areas are
excellent potential applications for HB-LEDs. Firefighters with LED-embedded
gear that won't heat up or grow under the pressure of the firefight? Cool!
As a longtime volunteer firefighter here in rural Texas, I have dibs on a really
colorful helmet and matching jacket. Maybe an LED-studded hose. Seriously...
I hadn't thought about until now, but blue spectrum LEDs would contrast well
with either the dry or burned grasses, and red/orange flames. "Placid VFD"
the backs of our crew and on the top and sides of our trucks would make it easier
for the air spotters to ID us... and that's critical in a fighting a raging
Texas wildfire.
Like so many catalyst companies in mainland China, Dalian Luming is
transitioning as fast as possible to leading edge technology-based products.
On their website, the company's President, Xiao Zhiguo explains
their vision as it relates to the compound semi industry. I've taken the liberty
of Americanizing his posted message while reading between the lines.
Those of you fluent in Chinese will be able to read his exact words. Feel free
to correct me if I've misinterpreted... "The hardship we've been enduring
through our lives, is just a required course for successful people,. We must
first absorb light and then emit light. We have been a world leader
in this field since 1992 because of our diligence and talent. The power of science
is what makes us enthusiastic and optimistic. If everyone of us brings a little
"light" to our work, our enterprise will be assured of achieving great
success and prosperity for its shareholders." The stated mission of the
company is to become a public company and strengthen and expand its product
lines while developing an enterprise culture consistent with its peer companies
and manner of doing business throughout the world. If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, I'm Jo Ann McDonald, Editor of LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News.
Feel free to contact me directly, anytime. 
My direct tel at the ranch is
+1-325-463-5345
From time to time Jo Ann may comment on companies in which she holds a
modest investment - be sure to read
her disclosure at some point in time... |
