Aegis Semiconductor Showcases New Tunable Optical Components at OFC 2004.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

OFC 2004

Booth No. 3813

WOBURN, Mass. & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2004

Aegis Semiconductor, an emerging leader in dynamic optical components and systems, today announced it will showcase three new product additions to its line of optical communications products at OFC 2004 in Los Angeles. The new products include the mosquito(TM) Optical Channel Monitor (OCM) 4050, mosquito Tunable Optical Detector (TOD) 050, and hornet(TM) Tunable Optical Filter (TOF) A1.

"The new products announced today represent another milestone in our mission to provide system manufacturers with the most compact and lowest-cost tunable components" said Jim Witham, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Aegis Semiconductor. "We will continue to deliver the necessary optical components to systems manufacturers so they can build optical systems and components that are easier to install, maintain, and reconfigure."

Flexible channel monitoring at 50 GHz

The new mosquito OCM 4050 can continually scan the C or L band where DWDM channels are transmitted on 50 GHz spacing. The OCM is ideal for intelligent control of pump power levels, variable optical attenuators, gain tilters, and dynamic gain equalizers, and is specifically designed for optical system manufacturers that require a flexible monitoring technology for multi-point or extended wavelength range channel monitoring. The mosquito OCM 4050 has superior power and wavelength accuracy in a package that is the smallest and lowest cost OCM in the industry. Designed as a single compact package that includes four mosquito TOD 050's, the mosquito OCM 4050 can be used to monitor up to four fiber taps, and can also be configured to monitor the C and L bands of two fiber taps.

50 GHz Tunable Optical Detectors 

The new mosquito TOD 050 is a tunable thin film filter and InGaAs Detector for spectrum monitoring of DWDM channels on 50 GHz spacing. The product is ideal for module developers of long haul and advanced optical systems, for intelligent control of pump power levels, variable optical attenuators, gain tilters, and dynamic gain equalizers. While larger spectrum monitors are packaged in more expensive butterfly packages, the mosquito TOD 050 is integrated into a single compact TO-46 package and provides a more compact, reliable and significant cost-effective alternative for embedded DWDM monitoring applications.

Tunable ASE filtering

The new hornet TOF A1 is ideal to improve receiver sensitivity by filtering out Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) noise where a single channel amplifier is used. The reach of the optical link can be increased dramatically, decreasing costs for fiber optic transmission by eliminating the need for regenerators. With the hornet TOF A1, DWDM system manufacturers can design one receiver card that will function at every DWDM wavelength, resulting in reduced inventory of raw materials, finished goods, and spares.

The mosquito TOD 050, mosquito OCM 4050 and hornet TOF A1 are all based on the Active Thin Films(TM) technology platform a platform developed by Aegis that enables the manufacturing of tunable components at the size, reliability, and price of passive components. The mosquito TOD 050, mosquito OCM 4050, and hornet TOF A1 are available immediately.

About Aegis Semiconductor

Aegis Semiconductor is a privately held company that builds solutions for monitoring and managing intelligent optical systems. Based on its tunable thin film technology, Aegis is the first company to deliver low-cost dynamic optical components that are reliable and easily manufactured using well-tested methods from the semiconductor industry. Aegis has secured more than $17 Million in funding from leading investors and venture capitalists including St. Paul Venture Capital, Alta Partners, YankeeTek Ventures, Technology Venture Partners, Stata Venture Partners, and Megunticook Management. The company is located in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA. More information can be viewed at www.aegis-semi.com.