JDSU Buys a Bit of Test
Test-Um would bring JDSU into home networking. The Camarillo, Calif., startup makes kits and handheld units for testing in-home wiring: coax, CAT5 cables, that sort of thing. The company sells to electrical contractors through distributors and catalogues.
JDSU calls the purchase, expected to close this quarter, a complement to the broadband access test-and-measurement gear acquired with Acterna last year. (See JDSU to Buy Test-Um and JDSU Buys Into Testy Market.)
JDSU was particularly interested in strengthening ties to the triple-play phenomenon, given the amount of attention that's going into broadband. "The market's attractive because there's aggressive growth," says Dave Holly, vice president of JDSU's test-and-measurement group.
The obvious question -- aside from, "Somebody named a company Test-Um?!" -- is how far JDSU wants to take this test-and-measurement thing. JDSU officials swear they're not abandoning optical components, but test and measurement will make up the bulk of revenues for the foreseeable future.
For JDSU's second quarter, which ended in December, test-and-measurement revenues were $146 million, or 46 percent of the total, compared with optical components, at $109.6 million, or 35 percent. (The other 19 percent is from the "Commercial and Consumer" unit, which includes thin-film products.)
Home-network testing might seem a less lucrative business than Acterna's. Then again, the margins can't be too much worse than optical components. (See Smiles Abound at OFC/NFOEC.)
"JDSU's overall corporate margin objectives are north of 40 percent, and this acquisition is in line with achieving those margins," Holly says.
Not that Test-Um is big enough to alter the numbers. One source pegs the company's revenues in the "low single-digit millions" per quarter.
— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading
Should they be looking for something big, though? With all the talk about mergers in the systems/OEM space, are there any test & measurement possibilities that come to mind?