JDSU Buys Fiber Tester

JDSU (Nasdaq: JDSU; Toronto: JDU) has added to its test system portfolio with another acquisition, this time shelling out $50 million for the fiber division of Westover Scientific, which makes systems that are used to inspect and clean optical fibers. (See JDSU Buys Opto Inspector.)

That may sound like an incredibly niche market, but it's a vital one -- dust or dirt on a fiber can result in signal loss and even irreparable damage to the fiber itself. And the Westover unit commands enough of the small market (a healthy majority, according to one source) to have generated revenues of $15 million in 2007, along with a healthy profit margin.

Those revenues grew by 30 percent over 2006 sales, and are likely to grow further as more and more carriers invest in fiber deployments. (See BT Goes With Huawei for FTTH , Dutch Feast on Fiber, Iliad Tempers Its FTTH Target, Telcos: IPTV Needs FTTH, BSNL Wants GEPON, WiMax Gear, and U-verse Picks Up the Pace.)

Westover Scientific's customers are mainly large carriers, equipment and test system vendors (JDSU has been a Westover customer), and military and government organizations.

JDSU expects the acquisition to boost its non-GAAP earnings for its 2008 fiscal year, which ends on June 2008, so the profit impact is almost immediate.

The acquisition also comes with an affiliated manufacturing company based in Fuzhou, China, but the transfer of that particular asset is still subject to approval by the Chinese authorities. And, the deal is not the first for JDSU's CommTest business, which also opened its wallet in 2007. (See JDSU Picks Up Picolight for $115M and JDSU to Acquire Innocor.)

Other test-and-measurement news of note:

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading