Telecommunications company, Ciena, has bought TeraXion’s High-Speed Photonics Components (HSPC) assets for approximately $CA 46.6 million (USD $32 million) in cash. Canadian firm TeraXion provides photonic products for fibre optic communication, fibre lasers and optical sensing applications.
The asset purchase includes TeraXion’s high-speed indium phosphide and silicon photonics technologies as well as critical underlying intellectual property. These technologies are key enablers of Ciena’s WaveLogic coherent optical chipsets, which make the optical layer of next-generation networks more intelligent.
Alain-Jacques Simard, TeraXion’s president and CEO, commented: ‘Being part of Ciena will provide the scale needed to accelerate the development of the HSPC technologies and will enable the continued development of highly differentiated solutions for Ciena’s customers.’
‘The TeraXion HSPC assets advance Ciena’s established leadership in high-speed optics and enhance our ability to develop differentiated solutions that enable service providers to scale their networks with greater programmability and agility,’ said Scott McFeely, senior vice president, networking platforms at Ciena.
With this acquisition, Ciena will maintain critical design and innovation resources in Québec City and bolster its R&D centre of excellence in Ottawa. ‘This is a new chapter for our HSPC activities and clearly an exciting opportunity for our employees to advance our technology set as part of the vision of an industry leader like Ciena,’ said Martin Guy, TeraXion’s current chief technology officer, who will join the Packet Optical Platforms organisation at Ciena and serve as the company’s site leader in Québec City.
‘As part of Ciena, the HSPC team will be in a position to optimise its high speed photonic solutions specifically for use in Ciena’s WaveLogic coherent platform, providing significant benefits,’ said Ian Woods, TeraXion’s current HSPC business unit leader who will also be joining the Packet Optical Platforms organisation at Ciena.
Following this transaction, TeraXion will continue to operate its fibre-optic communication, fibre lasers and optical sensing applications business, with 120 employees remaining with TeraXion in Québec City.
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