There is a great article in WIRED regarding a company that stands a very good chance in blowing away JDSU, and other fiber optic companies. It's new optic chip runs circles around what is currently out there. Patents galore, with $125 million in funding. INTC, CSCO, Morgan Stanley are some of the deep pockets.
From novalux.com
SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 26, 2000 -- Novalux Inc., a fiber optics components company, today announced it has closed a $109 million round of equity financing. Novalux's third round of financing was led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners, and includes new investors Cisco Systems Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston, Intel Capital, Lamoreaux Partners, MSD Capital, NorthEast Ventures, Salomon Smith Barney, Sternhill Partners, Telesoft Partners and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. Previous investors also taking part in this round include Crown Advisors, Crescendo Ventures, DynaFund, RWI, Tredegar Investments and Vanguard Venture Partners.
About the breakthrough: novalux.com
Breakthrough in Laser Technology Leads to Faster, Cheaper Bandwidth
Technology Pioneers Make Laser Light That Matters
SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 11, 2000 -– Novalux today unveiled a breakthrough in laser technology that promises to replace the underlying way that voice, data, video and Internet traffic are carried across the world. The technology, called NECSEL (Novalux Extended Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers), makes it possible to greatly expand the information transmission capacity of a fiber network (beyond current optical pump technology) at a significantly lower cost. The new laser technology platform sets previously unheard of price/performance expectations and will have a major impact not only on communications, but also displays, lighting and medical markets.
Novalux CEO Malcolm Thompson sees the implications of NECSEL’s advancement as far reaching. “There is an exploding demand for greater online communications capacity. Optical fiber transmission lines are already being installed worldwide to meet this demand,” said Thompson. “The quantum leap in price/performance that NECSEL brings promises to enable a paradigm change in the telecommunications marketplace.”
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) is the first important example. DWDM multiplies the information-carrying capacity of an optical fiber by sending multiple information data channels down the fiber using multiple carrier transmitters with differing wavelengths. The larger the number of channels used, the greater is the demand for pump power. Today DWDM is powered by edge-emitting diode laser-based pump technology which is unable to reliably provide more than ~250mW in single mode fiber. NECSELs, on the other hand, produce a much higher power in a perfectly circular beam emitted from the surface of the chip. This also has the advantage of making it possible to “mass test” chips prior to costly packaging.
In the role of a lower power transmitter layer, NECSELs further reduce DWDM network cost by replacing the backup transmitter for each wavelength channel by a single digitally tuned transmitter.
For Novalux founder Aram Mooradian, the debut of this technology marks the coming of age for semiconductor laser technology. “When the laser was invented, it was a solution in search of a problem. Internet bandwidth has proven it was the problem waiting to be solved,” Mooradian said.
About Novalux
Novalux, founded in 1998, has pioneered a breakthrough in ultra-high power lasers for photonic systems. Called NECSEL (Novalux Extended Cavity Surface Emitting Laser), this new technology enables elegant, scalable active laser platforms and solutions for achieving greater information bandwidth across long haul, metro and local access communications systems. Located in Sunnyvale, California, the company's investors include Cisco Systems, Credit Suisse First Boston, Crescendo Ventures, Dynafund, Intel Capital, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners, Salomon Smith Barney and Vanguard Venture Partners. For more information, see the Novalux website at www.novalux.com For more information please visit the company's web site at novalux.com
Editorial Contact
Stacey Fields
The Hoffman Agency for Novalux
408.286.2611
sfields@hoffman.com
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