Optical Access presented at the Wells Fargo/Van Kasper San Diego Growth Stock Conference yesterday.
Unfortunately, they were added at the last minute and presented first thing in the morning, so I did not know about it until I got to the conference 5 minutes before the OA presentation was over. Maha Achour, OA Director of Systems Engineering, did meet with myself, Chet White (the Van Kasper analyst who follows MRVC) and one other investor for about 20 minutes afterward.
First of all, Maha should be present at all the MRVC investor conferences and annual meeting. She is a much better presenter than Noam or most of the MRVC people we have seen. She said that OA has kept a low profile due to their pre-IPO quiet period, but will be picking up the PR soon.
Highlights:
*** OA currently has over 4500 revenue producing Free Space Optics (FSO) installations worldwide, including a 40 building (counts as 40 installations) network in Los Angeles. About 800 of the 4500 installations are in the U.S.. They also provide the broadband link for the London Supreme Court.
*** Customers include end users and SERVICE PROVIDERS such as AOL, British Telecom, Chase, Marconi, Sony, Siemens, etc.
*** Currently almost at breakeven. Very confident that OA would be profitable by the 4th Quarter.
*** HQ is in San Diego; R&D in USA and Israel; 200 employees; sales and support offices around the world;
*** OA has an extensive patent portfolio. Does not feel that Light Point is a threat.
*** They have a flexible pricing strategy. They can vary the price dependent on the exact needs of the client. Equipment is all compatible so upgrades are very simple.
*** OA has founded the Free Space Optical Alliance, made up of 18 members of the industry to promote FSO. The first meeting is next week. Maha is working on the website. Her feelings is that there is a lot of business out there, and room for several players. OA is concentrating on expanding their customer base rather than agressively fighting for patent rights.
I was offered a tour of the OA facilities in San Diego later this summer. If anyone else is interested, let me know and I will try to arrange something.
Overall, my impression is that OA could be really, really big. Of course, we have all heard that before about various MRVC subsidies!!! I am impressed that they are so close to profitability.
Chet White will likely have a report out very soon on OA based largely on information from this meeting. I expect that he will give further details. |
