Avanex Corp. of Fremont, Calif., has opened its Operations Center near Bangkok, Thailand. By centralizing manufacturing and operational functions in a low-cost region, the company intends to reduce its fixed overhead costs. It supplies photonic products for fiber optic communications networks.In other news, Avanex has received an award from Alcatel Corp. of Paris to supply optical components that will be deployed in submarine fiber networks. Its equipment for submarine applications includes the PowerBragg gain-flattening filter and the PowerDeep series pump laser modules.