Molecular Imprints Hires 2 VPs
Nanopatterning systems provider Molecular Imprints Inc. of Austin, Texas, announced that Ben Eynon and Paul Hofemann have joined its management team as vice president of marketing and business development for semiconductors, and vice president of marketing and business development for hard disk drives and emerging markets, respectively. Eynon will oversee development and integration of Molecular Imprints' S-FIL nanopatterning technology at semiconductor makers, in addition to managing the company's development partnership with SEMATECH. Hofemann is responsible for expanding the company's share in the hard disk drive (HDD) market and will drive its efforts in emerging nanopatterning markets including optical components, solid-state lighting, biotechnology and "green" applications. Eynon most recently served as director of advanced lithography process development for Samsung and associate director of lithography for SEMATECH. He has held management positions at KLA-Tencor, Photronics, DuPont Photomasks and Texas Instruments. Hofemann previously held vice president-level roles in marketing and business development at Photronics, ADE and Veeco Instruments and also held management positions at KLA-Tencor, Semi-Gas Systems and Applied Materials. (7/3/2008)
Andrew Brown to Head Global Development at SPIE
Andrew J. W. Brown, PhD, has joined international optics and photonics society SPIE in Bellingham, Wash., as senior director for global business development, succeeding Janice Gaines Walker, who is retiring in July after 24 years. Brown comes to SPIE from laser developer Aculight Corp., where he served as principal scientist, marketing manager, and most recently, director of business development. Previously, Brown held leadership positions at Falcon Medical, a medical instrumentation startup company, and STI Optronics (formerly Spectra Technology Inc.) a laser research and development company. He earned his PhD in physics from St. Andrews University, MSc (with distinction) in optoelectronics and laser devices from Herriot-Watt University, and BSc (1st class) in physics from St. Andrews University. Brown is a member of SPIE, the Optical Society of America and the Laser Institute of America (LIA) and has published technical papers. He has served as cochair and on the program committee for the SPIE Photonics West Fiber Lasers conference, the program committee for the SPIE DSS committee for Laser Source Technology for Defense and Security, and SPIE’s Scholarship Committee. Brown is also a member of DEPS (Directed Energy Professional Society) and has chaired the DEPS Solid State and Diode Laser Technology Review (SSDLTR) meeting and served as the small business representative on its organizing committee. He has also been a member of the LIA technical committee for Pacific International Conference of Applications of Lasers and Optics (PICALO). (7/2/2008)
Photonic Products Awarded Laser Diodes Contract
Photonic Products Ltd. of Hertsfordshire, England, has been awarded an evergreen contract initially worth six figures to supply laser diodes to the telecommunications division of an unnamed technology company. The announcement was made yesterday by Photonic Products' parent company, StockerYale Inc. of Salem, N.H., a maker of structured light lasers, LED modules and specialty optical fibers. "Our laser diodes are integral to the customer's new innovative, next-generation product, for which demand has been very high," said Damon Cookman, managing director of Photonic Products. “This contract award further underscores the turnaround in Photonic Products recorded in the first quarter and validates our market-leading technology,” said Mark W. Blodgett, chairman and CEO of StockerYale. (7/1/2008)
Canon Plans 'Green' HQ on Long Island
Imaging products maker Canon USA Inc. announced it expects to file site plans today with the town of Huntington to construct a new, environmentally friendly Canon Americas headquarters on a 52-acre site just off the Long Island Expressway in Melville, N.Y. Plans call for the 690,000-sq-ft, five-story facility to attain at least Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status by incorporating natural lighting, energy efficient materials, and reflecting pools in its park-like setting. Canon currently employs more than 1000 on Long Island and leases office space in Lake Success. The new facility will eventually house 2500 employees, Canon said, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. The plan will need approval from the Huntington planning board, Suffolk County and the State Department of Transportation before construction can begin. (7/1/2008)
Tim McCann Joins Foss NIRSystems
Foss NIRSystems Inc. announced that Tim McCann has been hired as mid-Atlantic account manager, with sales responsibility for six Eastern states, the metropolitan New York area and eastern Canadian provinces including Quebec. McCann, who has more than 25 years of technology sales experience with instrument manufacturers, will be based in New Jersey. Foss NIRSystems, a unit of Foss A/S of Denmark, is located in Laurel, Md., and provides rapid scanning, near-infrared (NIR) spectrophotometers for laboratory and process applications. (7/1/2008)
Cyberlux President Mark Schmidt Named CEO
LED lighting products maker Cyberlux Corp. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., announced yesterday that its board has named company President and Chief Operating Officer Mark D. Schmidt as its CEO, effective July 1. Schmidt, who has managed the company's operations for the past two years, replaces Donald F. Evans, who is retiring to pursue opportunities in the renewable energy field. Evans founded the company in 1999 and has served as chairman and CEO since 2000. The board also appointed John W. Ringo, corporate counsel and company director, as its new chairman. (7/1/2008)
Wes Hardenburg Promoted to CEO at Rigaku Americas
Rigaku Americas Corp. of The Woodlands, Texas, announced today that Wes Hardenburg, its CFO since 2000, has been promoted to serve as its president and CEO. Hardenburg succeeds Paul Swepston, PhD, who will continue on as senior advisor to the CEO of parent company Rigaku Corp. in Tokyo. Hardenburg joined Rigaku through the acquisition of Osmic Inc. in 1999. Rigaku makes analytical and industrial instrumentation used in small molecule and protein crystallography, x-ray spectrometry and diffraction, x-ray optics, and semiconductor metrology. (6/30/2008)
Hexagon Acquires Software Company in Germany
Hexagon, a global measurement technologies company, has acquired all outstanding shares in the German company Messtechnik Wetzlar. Messtechnik Wetzlar is a developer and provider of software solutions for quality control of complex mechanical parts in the powertrain area, and is a solutions provider for turnkey projects around material handling metrology solutions. Excluding intercompany sales, Messtechnik Wetzlar will add approximately 20 MSEK to Hexagon’s annual sales. It will remain a focused business unit and will continue to operate in the current business model. “The acquisition of Messtechnik Wetzlar shows our commitment to the high-end segment of software tools in the quality control of prismatic parts. Messtechnik Wetzlar’s software package QUINDOS7 complements the Hexagon software package PC-DMIS and thus our software offering in this area,” says Ola Rollén, chief operating executive and president of Hexagon. Messtechnik Wetzlar will be fully consolidated as of July 1, 2008 and will immediately contribute to Hexagon’s earnings.
(6/27/2008)
Electro-Optical Products Relocating
Electro-Optical Products Corp. announced it will move to its new facility July 1. Its new address is: 6240 Forest Ave., 2nd Floor, Ridgewood, NY 11385; phone: (718) 456-6000, fax: (718) 456-6050. Electro-Optical's mailing address remains: P.O. Box 650441, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365. The company also said it will be closed for vacation from July 14-31. Electro-Optical makes components and systems for optical modulation and optical scanning systems, portable instruments and systems integration in industrial, scientific, medical, aerospace and military applications. (6/26/2008)
Reflex Photonics Partners with MergeOptics
Reflex Photonics of Mountain View, Calif., a developer of high-speed optical connectivity products for semiconductor packaging and data transfer applications, announced that it will partner with MergeOptics, a Germany-based optical communications solutions provider, to develop joint solutions that address the growing demand for high-speed parallel optical interconnects for enterprise communication and networking. Under the agreement, MergeOptics will launch its own branded line of Snap 12 MSA and QSFP MSA parallel optical modules using Reflex Photonics' LightABLE optical engines. The companies will also collaborate on advancing the state of high-speed interconnectivity for several products based on bi-directional 12 channel X 10 Gbps active optical cables powered by Reflex’s optical engines, which will support higher speed developing standards such as 100-Gb Ethernet. (6/25/2008)