SDL Makes 66.7 Million Deal with IPG Photonics

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 6 -- SDL Inc., provider of laser equipment for sending multiple light signals over a single fiber to operators of fiber optic cable, has signed a deal with IPG Photonics Corp. of Sturbridge, Mass. SDL will supply high volumes of multimode pump lasers for IPG Photonics' cladding-pumped fiber products. The two-year deal is worth $66.7 million, said SDL.
SDL's multimode pump lasers use the same technology as the company's 980 nm single-mode laser diodes designed for terrestrial and undersea telecommunications systems. Multimode pump lasers use a broad emitting aperture to allow operation at power levels as high as several watts, and are used as cooled or uncooled optical pump sources for active, cladding-pumped fibers.
SDL is currently the subject of a takeover bid, announced this past summer, by JDS Uniphase worth $41 billion.