Monday July 31, 8:33 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Stratos Lightwave, Inc.
Stratos Lightwave Announces Major Expansion
of Manufacturing Space
CHICAGO, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratos Lightwave, Inc. (Nasdaq: STLW - news), a leading
manufacturer and seller of high-performance optical subsystems and components, today
announced the acquisition of additional manufacturing space adjacent to its Chicago
headquarters. The 60,000 sq. foot building will be used to increase the space dedicated to
manufacturing Stratos' Gigabit-speed optical transceivers and fiber optic products.
``The additional manufacturing space supports the immediate need to fill the record demand for
our optical subsystems and component product lines,'' said Jim McGinley, President and CEO.
``As of the end of our first quarter (July, 2000), our backlog increased 88% to $47 million, from our
ending fourth quarter (April, 2000) backlog of $25 million. We experienced an 82% increase in our
optical subsystems backlog and a 104% increase in our optical components backlog. This
expansion will allow us to add 50% to our Gigabit-speed optical subsystems unit capacity by the
end of October 2000, with a 100% total increase in unit capacity by end of calendar 2000. The
new space will also provide for a 200% increase in our optical component manufacturing and
precision fiber optic termination capacity in our Chicago facility.''
``In addition to continued demand in our existing SC fiber optic interface optical subsystem
business and fiber optic connectivity line, we are now experiencing strong growth from new
product lines. Small Form Factor optical subsystems using the half-size LC fiber optic interface,
high-density backplane fiber optic connectors, and precision optical terminations for
telecommunication OEMs are all strong incremental businesses that have begun to develop over
the last few quarters.''
``Recent developments in the Metropolitan and Wide Area Networking markets and the telecom
application space indicates increased demand for products in this sector. We expect that our
recent product announcements will incrementally benefit from demand in this area. Stratos
recently announced an ATM SONET OC-48 line of optical transceivers, Telecordia (Bellcore)
Standard compliance for our 1x9 SC optical transceivers, and availability of miniaturized OC-3
and OC-12 optical transceivers-all products addressing the MAN, WAN and Telecom markets.
The addition to the Chicago facility, as well as equipment investments in our Florida operation, is
expected to take advantage of this new market demand.
``The expansion to our Chicago campus will support our efforts to meet our aggressive growth
plans. Stratos' advanced product development, industry-leading optical line transmission and EMI
performance, and responsiveness to our customer's time-to-market requirements have earned
our success with the market's leading OEMs. This increased capacity will help us meet existing
customer needs and to proactively market new advanced product offerings, as well as the more
highly engineered optical solutions that play into the technical strengths of our company.''
Stratos Lightwave, Inc. develops, manufactures and sells optical subsystems and components
for high data rate networking, data storage, and telecommunications applications. These optical
subsystems are used in local area networks (LANs), storage area networks (SANs),
metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), and central office networking
in the telecommunications market. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells a full line
of optical components and cable assemblies for use in these networks. Stratos Lightwave, Inc. is
a subsidiary of Methode Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq: METHA - news)
This news release contains predictions, estimates and other forward-looking statements
regarding anticipated capital spending, customer demand and revenue growth. These statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from any future
performance suggested. These risks and uncertainties include the company's ability to
successfully ramp its manufacturing capacity, which in turn depends on the company's ability to
timely build-out and equip its new manufacturing space and rapidly hire and train additional
employees. Other risks that may affect the company's performance are listed in the company's
S-1 registration statement for its initial public offering on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
SOURCE: Stratos Lightwave, Inc. |
