In brief: JDSU, Nitronex, OCP, TriQuint
JDSU completes Picolight acquisition
Broadband and optical communication company JDSU has successfully concluded its purchase of VCSEL pioneer Picolight.
Consequently, the Milpitas, CA-based company can now offer Picolight's range of 850 and 1310nm pluggable transceivers.
David Gudmundsen, president of JDSU s optical communications business, was quick to point out how this readied the company for upcoming market trends, saying, “With this acquisition, we are able to serve market demand for 8 and 10 Gigabit data networks and provide a clear path to 100 Gigabits in the future.”
Supply manager in demand at Nitronex
Durham, NC, RF power transistor maker Nitronex has appointed David M. Boulin as its new supply chain manager.
Boulin, a 25 year veteran of the semiconductor industry, was a project manager in LDMOS packaging for Agere Systems in his previous role.
Nitronex anticipates sales of thousands of its GaN power transistors this year, now that its NRF1 process has been fully qualified (see related stories), and Boulin's appointment strengthens the experience that the company can draw on to help meet this demand.
“His contributions will enable us to address key industry packaging issues such as thermal management and cost reduction while providing unique solutions for our customers,” said Bruce Cochran, the company's vice president of operations.
Furukawa wades in to end OCP takeover battle
The extended wrangling over the transfer of ownership of Optical Communications Products (OCP) from Furukawa to Oplink looks to be drawing to an end, as the Japanese cable and materials manufacturer claims four extra seats on OCP s board.
This move, possible because Furukawa owns almost all of the Woodland Hills, CA, firm's shareholder voting power, means that there are seven directors from Furukawa out of a total of twelve on the OCP board.
Furukawa has also stated its intent to amend the communication systems maker's shareholder rights plan, or “Poison Pill”.
Oplink s challenge to OCP's “Poison Pill” was placed on the back burner by the Delaware courts, meaning that it was unlikely to be heard before OCP were due to close the rights plan, on 2 June.
Furukawa s move presumably removes the final barrier to the sale of its stake to Oplink, however John Harmon of analyst company Needham and Co. has pointed out that Oplink will not be able to make the most of the deal unless its offer to purchase the remaining share capital is also accepted.
OCP returned a negative profit margin in their most recent quarter (see related stories) which, in combination with the hostility of this power struggle, must make Oplink wonder about the prudence of the takeover bid.
TriQuint offers simple family of packaged RF devices
Communication device maker TriQuint Semiconductor has incorporated three high-performance GaAs devices into industry standard packages to make the first devices from its Multi-Function Circuit (MFC) family.
The Portland, Oregon firm is intending to simplify the use of these integrated circuits, developed for use in point-to-point, digital radio and satellite communication, which it previously sold as die-level devices only.
“Our new designs respond to customers who want to buy these kind of products from TriQuint, especially those who were not equipped to handle die-level devices, or simply prefer packaged products,” explained Triquint's product marketing manager, Mike Tessaro.
