JDS Uniphase

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JDSU
Type Public (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU)
Founded Merger of JDS Fitel and Uniphase Corporation in 1999
Headquarters Milpitas, California, United States
No. of locations 80 offices, serving customers in more than 160 countries
Key people Kevin Kennedy, President & CEO
David Vellequette, Chief Financial Officer
Industry Optical products and broadband communications
Products Communications test and measurement equipment; optical communications components, modules, and subsystems.

Lasers used for biotechnology, semiconductor manufacturing, and materials processing.

Thin film coatings, components, and assemblies used to manage light for displays, instrumentation, office automation, and aerospace/defense.

Optical solutions for brand protection and document authentication; and decorative coatings for brand enhancement and differentiation
Net income ▲$1.4 Billion USD (FY2007)
Employees ~7,000 (2008)
Website www.jdsu.com

JDSU NASDAQ: JDSU is a company that designs and manufactures products for optical communications products, communications test and measurement equipment, lasers, optical solutions for authentication and decorative applications, and other custom optics. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California, USA. It was formerly known as JDS Uniphase, prior to a rebranding of its corporate image on September 14, 2005. The legal entity is now called JDS Uniphase Corporation, whereas elsewhere the company always refers to itself as JDSU.

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[edit] History

In 1979, Uniphase Corporation was founded, with a focus on gas lasers. In 1981, JDS Optics (later to become JDS Fitel) was founded by Philip Garel-Jones, Gary Duck, and Bill Sinclair, with the help of Jozef Straus. The "JDS" is short for Jones, Duck, Sinclair, and Straus. Also, in 1981, Uniphase Corporation completed its initial public offering. In 1992, JDS Fitel completed its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

JDS Uniphase Corporation was formed by the 1999 merger between these two fiber optic companies, JDS Fitel and Uniphase Corporation. Also in 1999, JDS Uniphase was added to the S&P 500 index.

The company changed from using the name JDS Uniphase to JDSU as a result of a re-branding in September, 2005. JDS Uniphase is still the legal entity name. The company logo, suggestive of an open multicolored box, is intended to represent thinking "outside the box." The logo also symbolizes the cycle of innovation that begins and ends with the customer. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, JDSU is the product of several significant acquisitions.

[edit] Acquisitions

JDSU has continued to add to its offerings through acquisitions, which include:

2008 Acquisitions

American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. In February 2008, JDSU purchased ABNH, a company that originated, produced, and marketed holograms for security applications, and supplied optical security devices for the transaction card market. It is part of the JDSU Advanced Optical Technologies business.

Westover Scientific, Inc. In January 2008, JDSU purchased Westover Scientific’s Fiber Optic Division, adding fiber optic inspection and cleaning solutions to JDSU’s existing fiber field and lab and production test portfolio in its Communications Test and Measurement segment.

2007 Acquisitions

Innocor Ltd. In May 2007, JDSU purchased Innocor, a provider of broadband test solutions for network equipment manufacturers. The merger strengthened JDSU’s position in the North American lab and production markets and helped grow the company’s business in the Europe-Middle East-Africa and Asia and Pacific regions. Innocor was included in JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement segment.

Picolight, Inc. In May 2007, JDSU acquired Picolight, a designer and manufacturer of optical pluggable transceivers. The acquisition of Picolight strengthened the company’s position in high-growth pluggable optics for the enterprise market and added an established, vertically integrated manufacturing model. Picolight was added to the JDSU Optical Communications segment.

Casabyte, Inc. In January 2007, JDSU acquired Casabyte, a provider of service quality monitoring solutions for mobile network operations. The acquisition of Casabyte accelerated the company’s service assurance growth by capitalizing on a number of key assets, including Casabyte’s wireless service quality solutions expertise, technology and established customer relationships. Casabyte was included in the JDSU Communications Test and Measurement business.

2006 Acquisitions

Test-Um, Inc. In May 2006, JDSU purchased Test-Um, a provider of portable test, talk and trace products for datacom and communications networks. The acquisition established JDSU as a leader in the growing market for home and enterprise network testing. Test-Um is a well-known manufacturer of high-quality, low-cost instruments used in the field to troubleshoot, test, map and certify various types of networks. Test-Um is included in the JDSU Communications Test and Measurement segment.

Agility Communications, Inc. In November 2005, JDSU completed the acquisition of Agility Communications, Inc., a provider of widely tunable laser solutions for optical networks. The acquisition boosted JDSU’s position in tunable lasers and transponders, and offered a path to efficient high-volume, high-yield, tunable, pluggable solutions when combined with JDSU’s manufacturing scalability. The acquisition established JDSU as an agile optical network provider. Agility was included in the JDSU Optical Communications segment.

2005 Acquisitions

Acterna, Inc. In August 2005, JDSU completed the acquisition of Acterna, Inc., a provider of broadband and optical test and measurement solutions for telecommunications, cable service providers, and network equipment manufacturers, including many of the largest 100 telecommunications, cable services providers, and system manufacturers worldwide. The combined companies’ products and services support the deployment of IP-based data, voice, and video services over optical long haul, metro, fiber-to-the-home, DSL, and cable networks. The addition of Acterna led to the creation of the JDSU Communications Test and Measurement business.

Photonic Power Systems, Inc. In May 2005, JDSU acquired Photonic Power Systems, a provider of photonic power for the delivery of power over fiber. Photonic power is a power delivery system whereby light from a laser source travels over fiber to its destination where it is then is changed to electricity using a highly efficient photovoltaic power converter. The acquisition provided a solution to remote powering for many commercial applications, including medical, wireless communications, electrical power, industrial sensor, and aerospace applications.

Lightwave Electronics Corporation In April 2005, JDSU completed the acquisition of Lightwave Electronics Corporation, a provider of solid-state lasers for commercial markets such as materials processing, semiconductor fabrication, and biotechnology. With the acquisition of Lightwave, JDSU added solid-state lasers that range from low-to-high powers and ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths to its high power single emitter laser diodes, fiber lasers, argon ion, and helium neon lasers. Press Release

Other Significant Acquisitions E2O Communications, Inc. In May 2004, JDSU acquired E2O Communications, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of optical transceivers to support Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 1X-4X Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel, ESCON, ATM and SONET.

LA Label In January 2003, JDSU completed the acquisition of LA Label, a producer of pressure-sensitive labels for a variety of industrial and commercial applications, including custom labels, tags, and tickets to distributors and the printing trade. This acquisition allowed JDSU SecureShift pigment technology to be integrated into labels and packaging that protect brand-name consumer goods from counterfeiting.

OptronX—Optical Transceiver/Transponder Business In September 2002, JDSU acquired OptronX's business of small form factor, low power consumption, microprocessor-based transceiver designs. The acquisition added uncooled 10 Gbps short reach (SR) and very short reach (VSR) transponders to the JDSU transmission module portfolio, which also includes other reaches for telecommunications, a XENPAK module for data communications for 10 Gbps data-rate applications, as well as modules for applications at other data rates.

Scion Photonics, Inc. In April 2002, JDSU acquired Scion Photonics, Inc., a leading provider of application-specific photonic solutions based on planar lightwave circuit manufacturing using 200 mm wafers, advanced packaging, and automated fiber interfacing capabilities. The addition of Scion’s extensive knowledge and experience in semiconductor manufacturing, specifically chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and optical materials technology, allowed JDSU to deliver silica-based waveguide devices.

IBM Optical Transceiver Business In January 2002, JDSU acquired the IBM Optical Transceiver business (formerly the IBM Transport Business Line), a provider of high-quality, high-performance, leading-edge optical products supporting host-to-host and high-speed interconnects within a system. IBM's optical data communications products included small form factor (SFF) transceivers and Gigabit Interface Converters (GBIC) for storage area networks (SAN) and local area networks (LAN) using optical Fiber Channel and Gigabit Ethernet protocols. The acquisition allowed JDSU to design and develop standards-compliant 1 through 10 gigabit data communications transceivers. The patented latch designs are especially useable for the hot pluggability needed to achieve maximum network up-time or higher manufacturing yields.

SDL, Inc. In February 2001, JDSU completed the acquisition of SDL, Inc. a maker of products that power the transmission of data, voice, and Internet information over fiber optic networks for telecommunications, data transmission, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), and cable television applications. These products allowed customers to meet the bandwidth needs of increasing Internet, data, video, and voice traffic by expanding their fiber optic communications networks more quickly and efficiently than was possible using conventional electronic and optical technologies.

E-TEK Dynamics, Inc. In June 2000, JDSU acquired E-TEK Dynamics, Inc., a producer of wavelength division multiplexers (WDMs) designed to increase the bandwidth capacity of fiber optic networks. E-TEK also produced components such as isolators, couplers and integrated optics used in optical communications systems, terrestrial and submarine long-haul fiber optic networks, and short-haul networks, such as metro and cable.

Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. In February 2000, JDSU completed the acquisition of Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., a manufacturer of optical thin film coatings and components used to control and enhance light propagation to achieve specific effects, such as reflection, refraction, absorption, and wavelength separation. This functionality is essential in the fiber optic telecommunications industry and other important markets. As the demand for bandwidth continues to the drive the need of system manufacturers to increase the number of wavelengths in their wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems, optical thin film coating technology is increasingly important.

Oprel Technologies Inc. In December 1999, JDSU acquired Oprel Technologies, whose product line included erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) for fiber optic networks, as well as test equipment for optoelectronic devices. Oprel also developed packaging for devices, including DFB laser diodes, high-temperature and high-power laser diodes, and semiconductor optical amplifiers.

EPITAXX, Inc. In November 1999, JDSU acquired EPITAXX, Inc., whose products includes long wavelength detectors and receivers used for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and SONET/SDH transmission, optical network monitoring for terrestrial and undersea networks, test and measurement, and fiber optic analog CATV.

[edit] Shareholder litigation

After the 2001 crash of the telecommunications industry, the state of Connecticut filed a lawsuit against the company and four key executives, claiming that they had, and hid from company shareholders, advance knowledge of the company's impending downturn. Unlike most similar lawsuits, which are dismissed or settled before trial, Connecticut's lawsuit went to trial in October, 2007. JDSU was acquitted of all charges in November, 2007.

[edit] Litigation References

1. Dan Levine. "JDS Uniphase Scores a Win in Securities Case," Law.com, November 28, 2007

2. Kevin M. Lacroix. “Defense Verdict in JDSU Securities Trial,” The D&O Diary, November 27, 2007

3. Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, November 2007

[edit] External links