OpTun Gets DWDM Grant

MUNICH -- OpTun, GmbH (a subsidiary of OpTun, Inc of Santa Clara, CA), a manufacturer of PLC based components and modules, announces the award of a $1 million grant from the German Ministry of Research & Education to develop highly integrated devices in Silicon Oxynitride (SiON) for the DWDM telecom and optical interconnect industries. The 2-year award from the German Ministry will be used to pioneer the commercial application of optical switches, variable optical attenuators and power monitors to provide monolithically integrated Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer modules (ROADM). Resulting products will have a reduction of approximately 75% in the footprint compared to conventional low-index Silica-on-Silicon technology, thereby providing a cost savings of a similar magnitude as the number of chips per wafer increases. In addition, OpTun will apply its proprietary Controlled Mode Interaction (CMITM) waveguide design on this high-index SiON platform to provide an unprecedented breakthrough in device robustness and manufacturing yield of optically integrated devices.

The German Ministry selected OpTun to develop a compact ROADM that will enable the most cost-effective, fully flexible solution for next generation metro and long-haul telecom systems. This award was based on a rigorous review of the company’s record of achievement and innovation, and the potential economic benefits to the local optical industry, and the strength of the commercialization plan.

“We are excited to have won this award to develop and commercialize this technology to directly address the telecom industry's number one quest – to reduce costs!” stated Myo Ohn, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at OpTun. Dr. Ohn further commented that, “Investments are being made in leading-edge technologies that allow full-scale system-on-chip integration and that OpTun is at the forefront of this initiative. Furthermore, as a result of our strong portfolio of IP and development focus, we have gained customer traction that has resulted in design-wins with Tier-1 system vendors.”

OpTun Inc.