Bookham Acquires SiValley OpAmp Company for Est. $23.3 MillionMay 24, 2004...Bookham Technology plc of Oxfordshire, UK has entered into an agreement to
acquire Onetta, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California USA which designs and manufactures
EDFA amplifiers that incorporate advanced optics, control electronics and firmware.
Under the terms of the stock-based acquisition, estimated at the current Bookham
share trade, the deal is estimated at a cost to Bookham of $23.3 million, based
on the current exchange rate of Sterling number translated at 1 = $1.79. Onetta
reported Q-1 revenues of $3.3 million. Bookham CEO, Giorgio Anania, stated,
"Bookham is currently a leading player in optical amplifiers. The addition
of the Onetta team, the added revenue and the additional tier-1 customer penetration
Onetta brings to us further strengthens our position in optical amplifiers and
accelerates consolidation in this segment of the telecom optical component space.
In addition, Onetta provides key skills that should strengthen Bookham's position
as a leader in design and manufacture of optical line subsystems."
Although Onetta had been working at a net loss, Mr. Anani noted that "after
synergies are considered," Bookham expected their new acquisition to become
cash-generating before the end of the year. Mr. Yan Sun, President and co-founder
of Onetta agreed with Anania's comments adding, "Bookham's strength
and depth in amplifiers and subsystems and their strong channels to market is
the perfect match to ensure continued revenue growth for the Onetta product
portfolio. The combination will bring together a broad customer base and will
allow significant synergies to be realized through vertical integration of key
Bookham optical components.'' The acquisition is expected to be completed
within weeks. Wire release Stratos Grooming Itself for AcquisitionMay 24, 2004...Stratos Lightwave, a public company traded over the Nasdaq exchange in the
USA (symbol STLW) has officially changed its branded name to Stratos International
and has retained CIBC World Markets Corp. to be its official advisor as it "explores
strategic alternatives" which is short-hand Wall Street speak for grooming
itself for acquisition. While the wire
news release didn't have much more than that in the news lines, the use
of the new moniker indicates it has more to sell that just more lightwaves.
The new boilerplate (description of company at end of releases) however,
provides more and reads like a prospectus. Quote... (with added italics and
bold, our emphasis). "Stratos International, Inc. is a leading designer,
developer and manufacturer of active and passive optical, optoelectronic, RF
and Microwave components, subsystems and interconnect products used in telecom,
enterprise, military and video markets. Stratos has a rich history of optical
and mechanical packaging expertise and has been a pioneer in developing
several optical devices using innovative form factors for telecom, datacom
and harsh environments application. This expertise, coupled with several strategic
acquisitions, has allowed the Company to amass a broad range of products
and build a strong IP portfolio of more than 100 patents. The Company
is a market leader in several niches including high margin specialty optical
products such as RJ and low rider transceivers, Media Interface Adapters, flex
circuits, as well as high performance RF and microwave coax and triax interconnect
products. The Company currently serves more than 400 active customers
in telecom, military and video markets. Xanoptix Secures $15.2 Million to Help Strengthen Position in Hybrid ICsMay 24, 2004...Xanoptix of Merrimack, New Hampshire USA which is primarily involved in 3D
IC integration and high-density parallel optics, has closed another $15.2 million
of its Series C Convertible Preferred securities. This latest round was led
by primary investors: William Blair Capital Partners, Euclid SR Partners, Envest
Ventures and Optical Partners, LLC. The funds will be used to further develop
Xanoptix’s innovative Hybrid Integrated Circuit technology and to
expand its XTM Series optical interconnect product line. Rob Baxter,
Xanoptix Chairman and CEO said; “This round of investment will allow
Xanoptix to accelerate the deployment of our Hybrid Integrated Circuit technology,
allowing customers to begin to realize the large benefits in system performance,
size, cost and power dissipation. We are pleased at the continued support of
our investors who once again have given our technology, and our team, a big
vote of confidence.” Xanoptix' manufacturing approach utilizes a chip
level direct die-to-die interconnection of ICs that offer system designers a
modular building block approach for chip level solutions that combines silicon
and/or compound semi ICs. Xanoptix
offers the market die integration services to component and system owners, and
also designs and manufactures its own optical connection
products for next generation data links and optical communication applications.
Company
news release Catching Up with SemiSouthMay 24, 2004...SemiSouth of Starkville, Mississippi in the USA specializes in SiC discrete
transistor, diodes, circuits and merchant epitaxy and is one of the many USA
SiC epiwafer suppliers that seems to have cropped up over the past few years.
Most have kept a low profile as funding sources and actual new customers build.
The most consistent funding sources in the USA has been the Missile Defense
Agency (MDA) and the Defense Agency Research Projects Agency (DARPA). SemiSouth
recently scored another $1.3 million in four new SiC contracts from MDA and
DARPA, primarily under the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program.
In the 1st contract, sponsored by DARPA and monitored by the Air Force at WPAFB,
SemiSouth is developing a thicker epitaxy layer needed for very high voltage
products. Dr. J. Zhang, Director of SiC Epitaxy, commented that, "SiC
has always been known for high-power density, high-voltage products, but we
are working in this contract to develop epitaxy layers above 50 micron thick.
This opens
up SiC applications for single diode/transistor products above 5 kV, which will
help our epitaxy product group deliver to new customers in our merchant SiC
epitaxy business."
In the other contracts, sponsored by MDA, and also monitored by Wright Pat,
SemiSouth is looking at development of SiC RF transistors
(MESFETs and SITs) into near-term RADAR applications, and ICs into space based
applications. This effort is geared to helping leverage other related work at
SemiSouth, by implementing new fabrication techniques to improve the performance
and lower cost of L and S-Band parts, as well as opening up a new class of applications
involving SiC circuits. J.B. Casady, President and CTO of SemiSouth, commented,
"We are working with several key customers who have already received sample
parts from us, and are looking forward to the improved products these contracts
will help us
develop. DARPA, Missile Defense Agency, and Air Force have really been keen
on developing these products for critical defense needs, and we intend on delivering
for them." Company
news release
SemiSouth was founded in July of 2000 by SiC-related faculty (Drs. Jeffrey
B. Casady and Michael S. Mazzola) and staff at Mississippi State University,
and has been focused on commercialization of SiC epi materials and device technologies
developed at MSU. It began full time operations in May of "o1 and incorporated
in January '02. In October of '03, SemiSouth joined efforts with II-VI to combine
4H SiC production capabilities at II-VI with an advanced SiC epitaxial material
growth technology developed using SiC epitaxy reactors at SemiSouth, for use
in ultra-high power density electronics, next generation radars, wireless and
satellite communications systems. Details are in that company
news release.
May 24, 2004...One of the earliest compound semi industry pioneering companies is Spire Corporation
of Bedford, Massachusetts in the USA. It began by perfecting its own version
of MOCVD and leveraged their proprietary technology into a variety of application
sectors by doing innovative coatings and advanced solar cells. Spire was founded
by Roger Little who continues to serve as President and CEO, and as the years
rolled on, Roger's son Mark joined the company, moving up the management ladder
as the Spire's biomedical applications areas intensified. Mark Little, the Chief
Executive Officer of Spire Biomedical, was recently elected to Spire's board
of directors, replacing John Tarello who has served since 1971 and is now retiring
from the Spire board. About these developments Roger Little said, "Mark
Little will be a valuable addition to the Board. I look forward to his support.
He started contributing to Spire as a student in high school and joined the
Company in 1994 as Medical Device Engineer. He was named Assistant General Manager,
Biomedical, in March 1999; General Manager, Spire Biomedical, in January 2000;
Vice President and General Manager, Spire Biomedical in November 2000. Since
June 2001, he has been the Chief Executive Officer, Spire Biomedical. In this
position he has spearheaded the development and marketing of our catheter line,
as well as guided the growth of our processing services business. After
33 years as a member of our Board, we will very much miss John Tarello's wisdom
and insight now that he is retiring. His contribution to Spire has been outstanding."
Wire release. JDSU's Back on the Acquisition TrackMay 18, 2004...They're back... After a prolonged quiet period while the optical side
of the communications business regrouped during its devastating downturn, news
just in that JDS Uniphase has acquired E2O
Communications for approximately $60 million in cash. (Ref our litany
of coverage since 2000). The acquisition is expected to once again put
JDSU on the expansion path in data communications. Founded in 1998 and headquartered
in Calabasas, California USA, E2O develops and manufactures optical transceivers
to support Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 1X-4X Fibre
Channel, 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel, ESCON, ATM and SONET. In February, E20 announced
a 10 gig VCSEL and is currently a supplier to major datacom customers, including
seven that are additive to JDS Uniphase's customer base. Their revenue in recent
quarters has been in excess of $5M. "JDS Uniphase is committed to leadership
in the data communications market," said Don Bossi, president of JDS
Uniphase's Transmission Products Group. "The acquisition of E2O provides
JDS Uniphase with additional expertise in low cost manufacturing, greater economy
of scale, and other infrastructure cost synergies that we believe will lower
costs now and for the future. We believe these synergies and the strong cultural
fit between the two companies make this a lower-risk path to expand our role
in one of our fastest growing markets." H.C. Lee, Ph. D., President
and CEO of E2O, will join JDS Uniphase as VP of the combined datacom business
unit, reporting to Don Bossi. May 31st Deadline for Papers for CS Week in Monterey in OctoberMay 18, 2004...As the compound semi community hopefully knows by now, two technical conferences
are being combined under one "Big Week" this year, to be held in Monterey,
California in the USA throughout the entire week of October 24-28. The conferences
are IEEE's CSICS, affectionately known to
most in the community as the old "GaAs IC" Symposium, and the Institute
of Physic's CS-MAX.
The two conferences are sharing exhibits to make it "one stop shopping"
for those looking for "what's new", especially those involved in compound
semi-related manufacturing and systems integration. CSICS, which is now in its
26th year of existence, is the premier technical conference for compound semi
IC designers. CS-MAX is all about manufacturing. For information on exhibiting,
the contact is Harry Kuemmerle at +1 310-459-4691. Harry, in partnership with
Diane Conti, run VIP Meetings & Conventions and have long been the point
people for the GaAs IC Symposium. They have set up a CS
Week site over VIP's website.
Brad Nelson of Sirenza Microdevices is this year's Symposium Chair for CSICS
and Kevin Kobayashi, also of Sirenza, is Technical Program Vice Chair and arranging
the Short Course. The deadline
for submitting abstracts for CSICS was May 3rd, and plenty of papers were submitted
and are now in the review process. But Kevin reports that there will still be
an opportunity for late news papers, and that this solicitation will be done
through email and the group's CSICS website
and he points out that, "typically these papers have to be stellar,
true late breaking news to get accepted." But the deadline for CS-MAX
papers can still be met, which is May 31st. The new editor of IOP's Compound
Semiconductor print magazine, Michael Hatcher, is serving as the technical
program coordinator for CS-MAX, and can be reached by email at: michael.hatcher@iop.org.
Michael points out that authors must submit abstracts of no more than 500 words,
detailing previously unpublished results. The topics to be covered are listed
on the Call
for Papers, along with details for submission.
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