JDS Uniphase Soothes Customer
Fears Over Expansion
(09/14/00, 4:42 p.m. ET)
By Susan Taylor, Reuters
OTTAWA -- JDS Uniphase said Thursday that it is
trying to soothe customer concerns over its acquisition
of SDL.
JDS Uniphase Corp.'s stock purchase of laser maker
SDL Inc. (stock: SDLI), which is now worth $38.5
billion, is under review by U.S. antitrust authorities.
JDS (stock: JDSU) said it is talking to several major
customers, including Nortel Networks Corp. (stock:
NT).
Nortel CEO John Roth told Reuters in August that he
does not want JDS Uniphase to be its sole supplier of
any products, suggesting a separate supplier of some
technology may be the answer. Nortel is JDS'
second-largest customer following Lucent Technologies
Inc. (stock: LU).
"We've been in discussions to make sure that the ...
concerns of his [Roth] and the industry are properly
addressed," JDS CEO Jozef Straus said. "We are here
to support Nortel in whatever endeavors, in whatever
initiatives, in whatever business, in whatever way."
JDS Uniphase, which produces components and
modules that boost the capacity and speed of
fiber-optic networks, is riding a huge wave of demand
from network equipment suppliers. Those suppliers sell
gear to phone carriers and service providers, which are
increasingly hungry for added capacity on their
networks to deliver new services faster, farther, and
cheaper. It is on a massive expansion push to boost
production by four times every 18 months.
JDS, San Jose, Calif., is confident that its deal with
SDL will go through in December.
JDS, the product of a 1999 merger of San Jose,
Calif.-based Uniphase Corp. and Ottawa-area based
JDS Fitel, has said its biggest challenge is coping with a
blistering growth rate.
Straus said he will continue acquiring companies, in
addition to developing new technology, to expand the
company's product range to meet customer demand.
"What do customers want?" he said. "Faster products
to the market, faster time, lower cost, and more
complex products ... in volume. We need to be attuned
to the speed of the market."
A host of startups developing fiber-optic technology are
searching for the fastest way to get their products to
market. That typically involves an initial public offering
or acquisition by a larger company.
"More companies are calling us and saying could you
help us, could you work with us, could you partner with
us to help us to come to the market faster," Straus said.
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