If this news doesn't move this and make believers I don't know what will
Larson-Davis and Lucent Technologies-Bell Labs Innovations Announce
Advanced Mass Spectrometer
PROVO, Utah, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Larson-Davis Incorporated (Nasdaq:
LDII) announced today the signing of an agreement with Lucent
Technologies-Bell Labs Innovations to market the world's most advanced
particle analyzing mass spectrometer utilizing complementary
technologies developed by Lucent and Larson-Davis. The new mass
spectrometer will compete at a higher level for a sizable share of the
existing particle analysis market, estimated by Strategic Directions
International to be approaching $300 million annually. Due to its ultra
sensitivity and speed the product will also open the door to significant
new markets and applications estimated by the companies to provide
Larson-Davis with revenues that will ultimately range well above $50
million annually. For a global exclusive on the licensed technologies,
Larson-Davis will pay Lucent a one-time license fee plus a scheduled
royalty fee for each unit sold. The new market will include
semiconductor fabs and clean rooms where unknown minute particles are
currently stifling the continued subminiaturization of chips. Other
market segments include inorganic/organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
plastics, glass/ceramics, process control, environmental testing,
medical, military, manufacturing and quality assurance. Larson-Davis has
announced that it will begin taking orders for the product in the first
quarter of 1998.
Through the agreement, four of Larson-Davis' patents involving
high-speed mass spectrometry are combined with two of Lucent's patents
involving high- speed particle analysis using lasers and mass
spectrometry, to deliver the most advanced particle analyzer ever
developed. The instrument measures particles as small as one nanometer,
a size that is approximately one thousand times smaller than existing
competing technologies, and also identifies the exact composition of the
particles, an achievement which has never been done before. The
agreement gives Larson-Davis the exclusive global position to
commercialize technology that is simple, robust, and that has virtually
no competition.
According to Brian Larson, CEO and President of Larson-Davis, ``This
agreement paves the way for the most significant revenue growth
potential in our company's history, and represents an incredible vote of
confidence from Lucent-Bell Labs, a world leader in providing high-tech
solutions.'' Mr. Larson continued, ``It should be noted that the
technology is currently operational and furthermore, Lucent has agreed
to provide Larson-Davis with ongoing support in their collaborative
role.''
Lucent selected Larson-Davis for commercialization and deployment of its
patented technologies because of the Larson-Davis track record with its
recently introduced Jaguar(TM) product. Jaguar is a favorably priced,
extremely high speed, ultra sensitive mass spectrometer using innovative
and patented time-of-flight technologies. The commercialization of
Jaguar is on schedule with beta unit shipments planned for the third
quarter of this year and commercial shipments to the pharmaceutical
industry planned for the fourth quarter.
Stated Mr. Larson, ``This is not the first time where the combination of
two state-of-the-art technologies yields an `industry first'. In this
instance, the result is a system that automatically measures the size
distribution of particles ranging from as small as one nanometer, while
providing definitive chemical composition of the particles in real-time.
The fact that Lucent's single laser system demonstrably and dramatically
outperforms expensive multi-laser methods is just icing on the cake for
both Lucent and Larson-Davis. By this agreement, we're essentially
rewriting the rules in the particle analysis marketplace and we're
opening significant new markets by the same stroke.''
Larson-Davis Inc., headquartered in Provo, Utah, develops, manufactures,
and markets leading edge, ultra-sensitive analytical instrumentation for
the chemical, gas, acoustics and vibration market. Its customers are
major industrial companies as well as government and military agencies. |
