Sorry, I don't know anything about APAT other than what I read here. My uninformed opinion is that the Company has been around a long time, has a history in the defense industry, and has little or no money, which doesn't sound like a winning combination to me. But I would have said the same thing about Canary Island hotel operators being successful in the Internet content delivery business, so ...
On SDL, I like them a lot (they would be my #2 choice right now). They make active components (APAT and Avanex make passives), primarily pump lasers, with a 40% share of the merchant market. Corning is one of their biggest customers (pump laser modules go into the Corning opamps), but with the Corning acquisition of Oak they now have some of this capability in-house (through Oak's Lasertron sub).I understand Corning is already working to integrate the Lasertron pump laser into the Corning EDFAs (Erbium doped Fiber Amps). I don't expect this to affect SDL much, however. With everybody capacity constrained, all it's gonna do is move the business around. They also supply all 3 submarine system providers, which is as close as you can come to guaranteed business. I wish their margins were better, though. |
