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Irish Independent, 4th October 2001

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Amid dire predictions of a meltdown in the technology industry, Brian Skelly talks to a new company operating in a sector of which great things are expected, slowdown or no slowdown.

Companies going out of business. Many jobs being lost. Production plants closing. All features of the modern IT landscape in Ireland. Not a good time to set up a technology company, you would think. But not everyone would agree. James O'Gorman is CEO of a laser components developer, Eblana Photonics, which was established earlier this year and now employs 12 people.

''If we had started up a year ago, it would have been very difficult to buy [design and testing] equipment without facing long lead times. Back then it would also have been very difficult to get the right people - it's easier now. While raising finance in the current climate is more difficult now, deals are still getting done, companies are still getting funding. So it's a good time to launch a company,'' he said.

Eblana Photonics was established by 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 TCD, in conjunction with the Irish National Microelectronic Research Centre (NMRC) and is currently based in the Trinity College Enterprise Centre, Dublin.

Earlier this week, Eblana unveiled its first products in Amsterdam at Europe's leading optical communications event, ECOC. Eblana designs and develops laser diodes for telecoms equipment manufacturers. About the size of a grain of salt, these are tiny but vital components that create the pulses of light, which travel down lasers (sic). The killer characteristic of Eblana's technology, explains O'Gorman, is that its laser diodes exhibit a high degree of 'manufacturability' meaning they require less manual intervention and so can be produced more reliably and cost-effectively than existing technologies. The upshot is that telcos will find it more financially feasible to push fibre closer to the home or business than they are currently able to because of the high component costs. In other words, O'Gorman sees Eblana's products as helping to bridge that famed last mile to the home or business, which currently does not benefit from broadband Internet access.

''For the consumer this ultimately translates to download rates currently being experienced by most users increasing by up to 150 times'' he said. Eblana is one of a number of start-ups in a still vibrant sector of the technology industry called photonics. O'Gorman defined photonics as ''the science of production and manipulation of light; the technology of harnessing it''.

Market analysts say that in the medium term the communications markets for photonics technology is growing at 47pc per annum and will reach $14bn by 2004.

Brian MacCraith, head of the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) at Dublin City University agreed that the area has huge potential.

''The Technology is exploding. There are lots of developments in optical fibre, laser and CD-Rom, all of them feeding off each other'' he said. '' There's no doubt that optical technology is going to have a major impact over the next few decades and Ireland has a good opportunity to lead in this area''.

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