Photonics is here to stay and this small firm has a number of products/applications that you can take a look at. It is trading a bit today and is well below its 52wh of 14.00, but what isn't? (GG). be careful with it as there are only 1.2m shares outstanding. do your own dd...this from market guide:
Photon Technology International, Inc. (PTI) is a high technology corporation
incorporated in November 1983. PTI is engaged in the business of exploiting the
many applications of the proprietary fluorescence technology that it has developed.
Examples of fluorescence applications are environmental studies; pharmaceutical
studies process control; medical detection of diseases in early stages, such as
cancer, Alzheimer's, heart, kidneys and nervous disorders; agriculture; and foods.
PTI initially developed a line of proprietary and/or patented optical building blocks
(OBB's) which form the basis of all light based instrumentation. The Company sells
these building blocks as stand alone units. In addition PTI uses these unique
building blocks to develop its open architecture fluorescence systems.
In June 1987, the Company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Photon
Technology International (Canada) Inc. PTI Canada's operations include
manufacturing, research and development, engineering and product support.
Formerly European sales, service, distributors and product distribution were
managed from offices located in London England, through an unincorporated
branch office of the Company (PTI UK). In April 1987, the Company entered into a
research agreement with M.L. Technology Ventures L.P. (MLTV) to develop four
different products.
PTI has many new products that it will be introducing over the next three years,
some of which it will manufacture, and others as a result of corporate parting with
other companies. PTI, in light of the new product expansion, will continue to
upgrade and reorganize its product lines in order to be more effective in marketing
and sales. The two main divisions in the product groups are components, Product
Group I and systems, Product Groups II, III and IV.
Product Group I - Optical Building Blocks
PTI's components make up this line. They are composed of light sources, both
conventional and nitrogen and dye lasers; fiber optic illuminators; light and
sampling handling modules; various detectors using: photomultipliers, photodiodes
and intensified CCD cameras; and microscope accessories that can be used with
virtually any manufacturers microscopes (PTI does not manufacture microscopes.).
PTI has introduced a new line of power supplies and starters for its light sources
that reduce RF interference, which has traditionally been a problem with such
products since they are used in places where computers and other sensitive
instrumentation are subject to interference from the RF. In addition the power
supplies and starters are lower in cost of manufacture.
PTI is currently test marketing a new light source line that will offer even more
efficient power output than its current light sources. Full product introduction is
anticipated in January of 2001. PTI has applied for patent.
As a result of a joint partnership with M.U.T., an engineering Company, PTI is
introducing a new intelligent, portable spectrophotometer. This device has the
capability to detect many different types of substances or to analyze light, such as
color detection. In addition to the two current models PTI will introduce a full line of
accessories. Currently the product is being marketed through the component
group, but it is expected that over the next few years the product will become an
independent product line.
Product Group II - Fluorescence Microscopy and Imaging
This is a new product line that was reorganized to combine all microscope based
fluorescence systems under one product line. Formerly the products were under
two separate product groups, the Ratio-Fluorescence Systems (excluding imaging)
- RatioMaster Line and the Fluorescence Imaging Systems ImageMaster Line.
The RatioMaster products were the first PTI systems, introduced in 1987. The
RatioMaster systems can detect various ions, or fluorescent-labeled compounds,
generally found in living organisms. The products have a wide range of applications
in the medical, life science and pharmaceutical areas. They are currently used for
research applications to diagnose diseases, monitor drug effects, or to understand
various functions of living organisms. The systems can be used to study, in-vivo:
tissues, cells, single cells or even events happening at sub-cellular levels.
Because the ImageMaster systems are used with PTI's RatioMaster systems and
with microscopes and therefore serve very similar markets, PTI has decided to
incorporate them into the same product line.
The patented RAM technology, developed with the MLTV funding, continues PTI's
technological leadership in this area. The RAM technology is used with both
RatioMaster and ImageMaster systems. Added to this product line in the next
fiscal year is the new fluorescence microscopy systems (January 2001). These
systems are used for routine fluorescence applications in microscopy.
Product Group III - Spectrofluorometers - QuantaMaster
PTI has recently entered the largest single market in the fluorescence area. Steady
state fluorimeters are used in most basic fluorescence applications wherever one
has to detect small amount of substances, such as environmental,
pharmaceutical, chemical, medical and process control.
Product Group IV - Fluorescence Life-Time Systems - TimeMaster
TimeMaster systems are used to determine fluorescence lifetimes, a technique
used to distinguish between similar substances.
In late fiscal 1994, the Company introduced a revolutionary newly patented design,
and the most economical systems for fluorescence lifetime measurements, the
TimeMaster fluorescence Lifetime Spectrometers. These systems revolutionized
the fluorescence lifetime techniques by designing easy-to-use systems that are
consistent with the Company's modular and open architecture strategy for
products. Research and development efforts by the Company during fiscal 1994
and 1995 provided a product line with a unique strobe technique, a choice of two
different lifetime techniques and three different base system configurations as
follows:
StrobeMaster provides a unique and patented strobe technique for measuring
fluorescence lifetimes which is economical to use. The strobe technique is
intensity dependent and provides accurate measurements at very high speeds.
These characteristics of the strobe technique are very important in the life sciences
area, where samples are not stable over long periods of time. The StrobeMaster
uses a NanoFlash illuminator source.
LaserStrobe is based on the strobe technique for measuring fluorescence lifetimes
and is as unique as the StrobeMaster. With a nitrogen/dye laser illumination
source, the strobe technique provides for measurements of lifetimes with a
precision of below one nanosecond.
The unique strobe technique, through the introduction and sales of the
StrobeMaster and LaserStrobe, has started to be recognized and accepted for
measuring fluorescence lifetimes as evidenced by the increase in sales of these
systems during the early part of fiscal 2001.
The Company's systems compete with fluorescence instruments offered by large
corporations such as Perkin Elmer, Hitachi, Jasco and Shimadzu. |
