Leads Rapid Transition to Tunable DWDM Transponders
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, September 8, 2005 – JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU; and TSX: JDU) announced today a definitive agreement to acquire Agility Communications, Inc., a leading provider of widely tunable laser solutions for the optical network. The acquisition establishes JDS Uniphase’s leadership in the rapidly growing market for tunable lasers and transponders, and positions the company as the broadest end-to-end agile optical network portfolio provider in the marketplace today.
Agility Communications is privately held with approximately 90 employees and headquarters in Santa Barbara, California. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the quarter ending December 2005. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“Tunability has become a mandatory requirement and Ovum-RHK estimates the overall tunable transponder market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 50 percent through 2009,” said Daryl Inniss, Vice President of Communication Components at Ovum-RHK, an industry research firm. “The DWDM transponder market is a $400 million market and is expected to grow by seven percent CAGR through 2009."
“We believe the shift to tunables is inevitable and that the transition will be rapid,” said Mike Ricci, vice president of JDS Uniphase’s Component and Modules Group. “Agility’s single chip monolithic platform is capable of addressing the entire market and is not limited to a single form factor. Agility’s proven architecture, coupled with JDS Uniphase’s scalable manufacturing capability, paves the way for high volume, tunable, pluggable solutions.”
There are several potential benefits inherent in Agility's monolithic platform. Unlike alternative architectures, Agility offers the only proven architecture capable of fully integrating a tunable laser with a modulator via a highly scalable semiconductor wafer process. Agility also provides the only currently accepted platform that can enable tunable 2.5 Gb/s SFP and 10 Gb/s XFP form factors. Migration to pluggable solutions is expected to enable vendors to enjoy significant reductions in power dissipation, footprint and provisioning costs. The platform also offers switching speeds of less than 10 milliseconds, and is less sensitive to shock and vibration than other solutions, thus enabling deployment of robust, agile optical networks.
“I believe joining JDS Uniphase will help us maximize market penetration during the transition from fixed wavelength to tunable solutions,” said Ron Nelson, Agility’s president and chief executive officer. “The acquisition gives us access to high-volume manufacturing capability and expanded sales channels. Adding Agility’s tunable lasers to JDS Uniphase’s family of wavelength management modules creates a one-stop shop for anyone wanting to assemble an agile optical network.”
An agile optical network is an optical network that offers unparalleled reconfigurability, scalability and robustness at the optical layer. This is intended to result in lower capital and operating expenditures while enabling next generation services. JDS Uniphase provides the only end-to-end portfolio of solutions needed to build and operate an agile optical network, including such scalable solutions as EDFAs, ROADMs, Multiwavelength Switches (MWS), wavelength blockers, and Optical Channel Monitors. On the test and measurement side, JDS Uniphase offers robust DWDM solutions, including optical spectrum analyzers, optical network testers, stressed eye testers, and DWDM analyzers. The addition of tunable transponders significantly strengthens the reconfigurable aspect of JDS Uniphase’s agile optical network solution.
Agility is already selling tunable transmitter and transponder products to top tier customers, including Siemens, Marconi, Mahi Networks, Tropic Networks, ECI, and many others. Many service providers have already migrated or announced plans to move to tunable solutions for agile, optical networks, including AT&T, SBC, Deutsche Telekom, and Verizon.
About Agility Communications, Inc.
Founded by a team of optical networking and semiconductor veterans in October 1998, Agility introduced the first widely tunable laser in November of 2000. Agility is regarded as the leader in widely tunable components for metro, switching, and long-haul markets. Agility’s tunable transponder and tunable laser solutions reduce capital and operating expenses for carriers and system providers by reducing inventory, simplifying planning and enabling revolutionary architectures. Agility’s lasers help communications providers increase network capacity, maximize existing network resources, streamline the planning process for network growth, and deliver bandwidth on demand through simple point-and-click provisioning.
About JDS Uniphase
JDS Uniphase is committed to enabling broadband & optical innovation in the communications, commercial and consumer markets. JDS Uniphase is the leading provider of communications test and measurement solutions and optical products for telecommunications service providers, cable operators, and network equipment manufacturers. Furthermore, JDS Uniphase is the leading provider of innovative optical solutions for medical/environmental instrumentation, semiconductor processing, display, brand authentication, aerospace and defense, and decorative applications. More information is available at http://www.jdsu.com/.
For more information about Agility solutions, visit http://www.agility.com/ or call 805-690-1700.
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, any statements or implications regarding: (i) the likelihood and expected timing of completion of the acquisition discussed in this release; (ii) the size of the market (and expected growth thereof) for the products described in this release (including, without limitation, tunable lasers, tunable transponders and DWDM lasers, as well as the timing of any market transition from fixed wavelength to tunable solutions); and (iii) the expected performance and quality levels, power reductions, cost savings and other benefits to our customers of the products described in this release. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risks that (a) the acquisition will not be completed due to the failure to obtain regulatory approvals, or otherwise, (b) the acquired business will not be effectively integrated, such integration will be more costly or time-consuming than expected, or the acquired business will not achieve expected financial results or synergies or otherwise perform as expected, (b) the products and technology of the acquired business will not perform as expected, or will not be accepted or purchased by our customers, (c) the expectations regarding market growth and transition timing may be erroneous (tunable products such as those described in this release have been under development for many years and prior predictions for market acceptance of such products have proven to be highly erroneous), and ( d ) those risks discussed from time to time in reports filed by JDS Uniphase Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and JDS Uniphase Corporation assumes no obligation to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Contacts
Media: Jayme Curtis, Public Relations, 408-546-7028 or jayme.curtis@jdsu.com
Investors: Jacquie Ross, Investor Relations, 408-546-4445, or investor.relations@jdsu.com