| Photonics.com

Glimmerglass, a Hayward, Calif.-based developer of transparent connectivity technology, and Laser 2000, a UK distributor of photonics products, have announced an alliance to introduce Glimmerglass' products in Europe and promote the use of microphotonics technologies to improve fiber-related applications in test and measurement, high-performance computing, video production and telecommunications. Glimmerglass products include the System 300, rack-mountable fiber switching systems used in test and measurement, computing and video network applications, and Reflexion reliable photonic switching subsystems used by telecommunications systems manufacturers in wavelength division multiplexing applications. The companies will have an exhibit at the 2004 annual Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC), Feb. 22-27 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles. . . . Fairchild Semiconductor International, baed in South Portland, Maine, will invest $143 million to expand its eight-inch-wafer processing facility in Mountaintop, Pa., which it said will create 320 jobs over four years. The company will refurbish a 15,000-square-foot clean room shell and equip it with tooling and support systems, including an expanded deionized water system. The state is providing an incentive of more than $12 million for the expansion in the form of grants, tax credits, job training, loans and bond financing.