EATONTOWN, N.J. -- Opnext, Inc., a global leader in high-performance optical components, today announced that it has acquired Pine Photonics Communications, Inc., a transceiver maker headquartered in Fremont, California. This acquisition provides Opnext with sophisticated technologies in SONET/SDH and Ethernet optical transceivers, allowing Opnext to immediately expand its portfolio of XAUI-based transponders and small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers, including modules for SONET/SDH (OC-3/STM-1 to OC-48/STM-16), Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), and Fibre Channel applications. Through this acquisition, existing Opnext and Pine Photonics customers will benefit from an extensive pluggable product portfolio and higher levels of customer service.

"The merger of Opnext and Pine Photonics brings together the strengths of two significant industry players," explained Harry Bosco, Opnext president and chief executive officer. "Opnext is augmenting its proven track record in high-end optical components by leveraging Pine Photonics' expertise in low-cost design and manufacture. The acquisition allows Opnext to further expand its pluggable portfolio of products to include a complete range of high performance, low-cost, pluggable transceivers for datacom and telecom applications, such as SFP, XFP and X2 transceivers. Most importantly, Pine Photonics shares our commitment to quality manufacturing processes that ensure reliable products. We are proud to offer our customers innovative optical-to-electrical solutions that will not only reduce costs but deliver efficiencies that help drive productivity gains."

Pine Photonics offers module-level products for metro and regional network system providers such as transceivers, transponders and modulator bias controllers. The range of products includes SFP transceivers that are cost effective and available with transmission distances ranging from 300 meters to 80 kilometers. SFPs give systems vendors the flexibility to design communications boards without the need to fuse transceivers onto the board during the manufacturing process. This benefit can significantly improve manufacturing efficiency and give service providers the flexibility to "plug-in" transceivers based on the speed or distance required. Pine Photonics also leads the industry in producing high quality XAUI-based 10Gbps pluggable transponders at a lower cost. By integrating with Pine Photonics, Opnext will be able to offer customers the industry's most comprehensive transceiver/transponder product family.

"The Pine Photonics team is very excited about joining forces with a global leader in high performance optical components," said Dr. Hsing Kung, chief executive officer and president of Pine Photonics. "The acquisition rounds out Opnext's product portfolio and will allow existing Pine Photonics customers to tap into the expertise and resources of Opnext. We believe this development is good for both Pine Photonics and Opnext, and will significantly benefit our telecom and datacom customers."

Opnext Inc.

Pine Photonics Communications Inc.