PerkinElmer Strengthens Telecom Position with Investment in Bragg Photonics, Inc.
Equity Stake in Leading Fiber Optic Component Producer; Accelerates New Telecom Products
Boston and Montreal. PerkinElmer, Inc. today announced that it has taken a 13% equity stake, with options to increase ownership in Montreal-based Bragg Photonics, Inc. PerkinElmer, Inc. is a manufacturer of high-speed optical components serving optical networking applications for the world s leading telecommunications companies. Bragg Photonics, Inc. is a leading producer of fiber optic components utilizing fiber-grating technology.
"Telecommunications is a high priority growth area for us," said Gregory L. Summe, Chairman and CEO of PerkinElmer, Inc. "This is a strategic investment for PerkinElmer, and expands our position as a world class provider of component products and solutions for the telecommunications industry by capitalizing on our expertise in optical semiconductors, optoelectronic packaging, and high volume manufacturing."
PerkinElmer Optoelectronics serves the telecommunications market with a broad range of products from receivers, transmitters, pump lasers, photo-detectors and advanced products for fiber optic communications, and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). Based in Montreal, the PerkinElmer telecom unit expects sales in 2000 to exceed $50M.
Summe emphasized, "This equity position in Bragg Photonics gives PerkinElmer direct access to Bragg s fiber-grating technology. This enabling technology will significantly reduce the time-to-market of our high powered transmitters and 980nm pump lasers."
Bragg Photonics products serve a rich variety of photonic applications including dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), optical add-drop multiplexing (OADM), laser wavelength stabilization, dispersion compensation, signal equalization in Erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) and optical cross connect switches (OXCs). All-optical network architectures utilizing these components allow the rapid expansion of bandwidth, driven by the explosive growth in Internet, Intranet and Enterprise Networks, much more efficiently than with conventional electronics.
Peter Kung, President and CEO of Bragg Photonics noted, "our alliance with PerkinElmer creates the perfect vehicle for promoting and delivering our advanced optical networking solutions to top tier fiber optic communications system manufacturers."
Factors Affecting Future Performance
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of PerkinElmer to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including among others, the factors set forth under "Forward-looking Information and Factors Affecting Future Performance" in the Company s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 3, 1999 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which factors are expressly incorporated by reference in this press release.
Bragg Photonics, Inc., a privately held corporation, is a leader in the design, packaging and manufacture of high quality all-fiber lightwave components used in high speed fiber optic telecommunication networks and cable television transmission systems. Additional information is available at www.bragg.ca.
PerkinElmer, Inc. is a $1.6 billion high technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating in four businesses - Life Sciences, Fluid Sciences, Optoelectronics, and Analytical Instruments. The Company has operations in over 100 countries, and is a component of the S&P 500 Index. Additional information is available at www.perkinelmer.com or at 1-877-PKI-NYSE.
Contact:
PerkinElmer, Inc.
Diane J. Basile
Tel: 781 431-4306
Diane J. Basile
Tel: 781 431-4306
