Picolight, Honeywell Cross LicensePicolight, Honeywell Cross License

BOULDER, Colo. -- Picolight, a leading supplier of oxide VCSEL based transceivers and VCSEL sub-assemblies, today announced that it entered into a cross-license agreement with the Honeywell (HON: NYSE) VCSEL Optical Products business for laser-related intellectual property. The agreement - signed November 2003 - applies to four Picolight patents and one Honeywell patent, which pertain to "oxide confined" VCSEL designs. On January 26, Honeywell and Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) announced a definitive agreement under which Finisar has agreed to acquire the VCSEL Optical Products business. The cross-license agreement will transfer to Finisar when the transaction closes during the first calendar quarter of 2004.

"This cross-license agreement strengthens Picolight's position as a leader in oxide VCSEL transceivers and components," said Jack Jewell, chief technology officer for Picolight. "The oxide confined VCSEL enabled adoption of VCSELs throughout enterprise networks for multi-gigabit applications. And, the same technology is key to our new 1310nm VCSELs transceivers that extend the benefits of enterprise optics to campus, storage network, metro-access and optical Ethernet networks."

Oxide VCSEL sources dominate short-reach Ethernet and Fibre Channel optical interconnects due to their speed, signal integrity, reliability and manufacturability. The use of oxide confinement in the design enabled VCSEL based transceivers to reach 2 Gbps, 4Gbps and 10 Gbps data rates. The technology included in the license agreement pertains to key aspects of oxide VSCELs found in existing and future Picolight products.

Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Picolight Inc.

Honeywell International Inc.