This is one company to watch...
ITF sets its sights on Newbridge,
Nortel for fibre optic technology
Device boosts capacity
Robert Gibbens
Financial Post
MONTREAL - A three-year-old research firm backed by Terry
Matthews, chairman of Newbridge Networks Corp., is investing
$10-million to get into full production with components it says can
multiply fibre optic networks' transmission capacity by 40 times.
ITF designs and makes devices that combine and separate multiple
wavelengths of light on a single fibre, thereby boosting capacity. They
are adapted for multimedia and Internet markets.
Eric Geoffrion, founder and chief executive of ITF Optical
Technologies Inc., said he started with two employees in January,
1997, and the payroll has since climbed to 110. The investment
program, backed by a $630,000 grant from the government of Quebec,
will create more high-tech jobs next year, the company said.
ITF said it will be supplying firms such as Nortel Networks Corp. and
Newbridge.
"The market for these photonic products is exploding because of the
Internet and universal access to information," Mr. Matthews said.
"ITF has the right product at the right time because raising capacity of
existing networks is much less costly than building more fibre optic
lines."
Mr. Matthews, via his private venture capital company Celtic
Investments Inc., holds 20% of ITF and Newbridge itself holds 10%.
Other backers include the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan board, and
GTI Capital Inc., a Montreal venture capital group.
In all, Mr. Matthews has backed nearly 30 high-tech start-ups, said Paul
Goyette, Newbridge spokesman. |
