Optical communication components suppliers 3SPhotonics and Finisar Corp. have teamed up to develop a packaging platform for 980-nm cooled-laser pump modules. 3S Photonics will be the exclusive supplier of the 980-nm laser chips used for the platform, and Finisar will implement a manufacturing line based on this platform in its newly expanded Wuxi, China, facility. Finisar will use the pump modules in its erbium-doped fiber amplifier and Line Card telecom products; 3S Photonics will use the platform to serve its customers. The partnership will give 3S Photonics “access to an alternative competitive packaging platform that will improve the fixed-cost absorption of our wafer fab,” said Alexandre Krivine, CEO of 3SPGroup. The modules are expected to be available by mid-2013. For more information, visit: www.3spgroup.com or www.finisar.com