OFC Snapshot: EmcoreOFC Snapshot: Emcore

LOS ANGELES -- OFC 2015 -- The OFC event brought together many different types of companies from around the world, with one unifying technology/topic/trend -- optical.

Well, OFC is the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition, after all.

Most vendors on the expansive show floor showed off chips, components, modules and systems for telco and data center networks, so Emcore Corp. (Nasdaq: EMKR), with its optical chips and systems for cable and video networks, stood out.

The company demonstrated an end-to-end DOCSIS 3.1 transmission link over 40 KM of fiber linking an optical switch and a prototype DOCSIS 3.1 optical network unit (ONU). For more details, see this press release.

Figure 1: Demo Double Act Emcore's corporate marketing communications manager Joel Counter and product marketing director Grant Olecko keep close guard of their DOCSIS 3.1 demo.

Emcore has recently decided to focus on its core business, which it refers to as its Broadband Fiber Optics line. It sold its tunable laser and transceiver product lines to NeoPhotonics Corp. (NYSE: NPTN) early this year in a deal that could be worth up to $17.5 million and sold its Space Photovoltaics unit to Veritas Capital for $150 million in December 2014. (See NeoPhotonics Closes Emcore Components Buy.)

Here's a snapshot of Emcore:

Company name Emcore Corp. Headquarters Alhambra, Calif. Founded 1984 Headcount About 500 Company focus/strategy Vertically integrated CATV transmission components and systems Funding/market value Public on Nasdaq (EMKR), market cap $175 million Revenues About $18 million per quarter at current run rate Profitability Slight operating loss from continuing operations in fiscal Q1 ended Dec. 31 2014 Headline customers/key accounts Cisco, Harris, Aurora Networks Key partners BUBT (China) for resale Main competitor Applied Optoelectronics Favorite movie (of Joel Counter, corporate marketing comms manager) Chinatown

— Ray Le Maistre, , Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading