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Irish Examiner, 7th December, .2001

Eblana and telecom industry get laser boost

Eblana has announced a new generation of economic transmitter source and high power pump lasers for optical communications

by Carmel Killoran

What started out initially as a research project at Trinity College Dublin has become a strong offering at the cutting edge of laser technology. Earlier this year, Eblana Photonics was officially launched by James O'Gorman and John Hegarty who are both world-renowned authorities in the field of laser physics. The company was born out of a Photonics Advanced Research Programme at Trinity College, Dublin in conjunction with the Irish National Microelectronic Research Centre (NMRC) and is currently based in the Trinity College Enterprise Centre.

What is new about the Eblana proposition is that it has announced a new generation of economic transmitter source and high power pump lasers for optical communications. Basically, it provides superior laser technology to the telecommunications industry. Eblana's breakthrough will enable communication system manufacturers to meet the ongoing demand for greater communications bandwidth, faster and more cost effectively.

Indeed such is the importance of this indigenous Irish company on a global front that its new products were recently unveiled in Amsterdam at Europe's leading optical communications event - the European Conference on Optical Communications.

The company specialises in the production of high quality, enhanced performance, economic photonic components for use in high-speed fibre optic communications. This includes the manufacture and selling of high technology economic laser diode products. Eblana Photonics is now implementing a fast- track programme of growth with financial backing from a combination of Irish and US private equity sources.

But what does all of this mean in layman's terms? Well, photonics is the technology associated with generating and harnessing light. A key application area is the transmission of information via light. In the context of the telecommunications industry, the photonics industry is providing a new generation of laser technology for use in fibre optic networks capable of transmitting data up to 1000 times faster than existing electronic methods. This melding of light with electronics promises to render obsolete the current modes of information transmission.

But is there any need for all of this advancement? Well apparently there is since many of the existing technologies incorporating the use of copper based transmission networks are limited in their capability and are struggling to meet the growing demands for greater bandwidth brought on by the massive increases in Internet and other data network traffic. In addition, consumer desire for efficient high-speed, high-data content services such as video-on-demand, are adding to these increasing bandwidth requirements.

Photonics is providing a new generation of laser technology capable of transmitting information more cost effectively in glass fibre light guides which are 100 times smaller than a human hair and transmit signals over long distances at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than the conventional electronic counterparts. Communications providers can hope to gain by lowering the cost of data transmission while multiplying the speed and capacity through higher bandwidths made possible by progress in photonics technology.

In many ways, the uptake of broadband services will have developmental characteristics similar to the mobile phone market; slow growth up to a threshold penetration rate of 10-20% and thereafter, explosive growth to near mass market deployment. According to James O'Gorman, CEO of Eblana Photonics, "Industry analysts continue to forecast exceptional growth rates in the communications markets, particularly for metropolitan and access applications. Industry analysts, Ryan Hankin Kent, forecast that the communications market is set to grow at 36 per cent per annum in the medium term and will 1 be worth about $11 billion in 2004."

He added: "Servicing these huge markets at the economies demanded by metro and access applications will require photonics components to be economically produced using mass manufacturing techniques. At Eblana Photonics we have developed a unique technology platform to do just this." He continued: "That platform allows economic production of more reliable components which will enable vast improvements to the communications bandwidth currently available to consumers today. For the consumer, this ultimately translates to download rates currently being experienced by most users using 56kb lines increasing up to 1500kb."

While there is no doubt that the current economic climate is putting increased pressures on all businesses to manage costs, why should Eblana Photonics decide to initiate itself right bang in the middle of this downturn? Well, it seems the need for economic supply of laser components to the communications industry for deployment in high speed fibre optic data link applications will continue to increase. There is currently a shortfall in the supply of mass manufacturable and hence economic laser based components to the wider communications industry. Eblana Photonics is ideally placed to meet this need offering a range of superior products more cost effectively than those currently on the market.

Dr. O'Gorman also points out that much of the hardware needed to develop photonic products can be bought more economically with shorter lead times today.

Dr. James O'Gorman is chief executive of Eblana Photonics. Previously he was General Manager of Optronics Ireland R&D in Trinity College Dublin. At Bell Laboratories, the R&D arm of AT&T, now Agere, he carried out research on laser diodes and on high speed data communications using laser diode arrays. Dr. John Hegarty is Director of Eblana Photonics. He also worked at Bell Laboratories, where he performed a landmark demonstration and transmission, recognised by Time Magazine as a key milestone in the development of communications technology. Subsequently Dr. Hegarty became Professor of laser physics at Trinity College and Founder and Technical Director of Optronics Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland, Trinity College and the NMRC are among the shareholders in Eblana Photonics, which has received its initial investment from Irish and international funding sources.

last updated Friday, 27, August, 2010   |   copyright © 2005 Eblana Photonics Ltd.