Optillion opens a development office in Gothenburg

Optillion opens a development office in Gothenburg Optillion is now establishing an office in Gothenburg, Sweden. Optillion has gathered world-leading expertise for the development and production of fiberoptical transceivers, which will significantly increase the capacity in future broadband networks. The development team in Gothenburg will primarly work with Optillion's next generation transceivers with speeds of up to 100 Gbps. With the establishment of this development office in Gothenburg, Optillion gains a strategically important proximity to Chalmers University of Technology. In December 2000 Optillion carried out one of the autumn's largest private placements in Sweden and obtained $ 53 million through the new share issue. Optillion's first transceivers for fiber optic networks are now being developed and will have a capacity of 10 Gbps, 10 times faster than the current Ethernet transceivers for data communication. The Gothenburg office will work in parallel with the development team in Stockholm, but will focus right from the start on Optillion's next generation of transceivers for speeds of up to 100 Gbps. The operations in Gothenburg will be headed by Thomas Swahn, previously head of development for Antenna Systems at Allgon. Thomas Swahn has a technology Ph.D. and has many years experience in the development of electronics and microwave technology for extremely high speeds. "It is important for Optillion to attract leading-edge expertise within both the optic and electronics fields. The establishment in Gothenburg provides us with a strategically important proximity to Chalmers University of Technology and the specialist expertise which is to be found there within the areas of microwave technology and fiber optic transmission in particular", states Patrik Evaldsson, CEO and President of Optillion. Recruitment for the office in Gothenburg has just started and it is expected that between 10-15 persons will be employed in this development team by the end of this year. The office is located at Kungsportsavenyn 32, Gothenburg. For further information, please contact: Patrik Evaldsson, CEO and President, Tel +46 (0) 8477 41 61, mobile +46(0)70181 52 11 Heléne Wolpher, VP Corporate Communication, Tel +46(0)8477 41 60, mobile +46(0)70181 52 23 Thomas Swahn, GM Gothenburg office, mobile +46 (0)70181 52 56 FACTS ABOUT OPTILLION Optillion is a Swedish high-tech company that operates in the optic component and subsystem market. The business concept of Optillion is to develop, manufacture and sell transceivers which will increase capacity in fiber optic networks. The transmission capacity in Optillion's first transceivers will be 10 Gbps Ethernet. Optillion was founded in December 1999. The three founders are Christer Svensson, Professor of Electronic Devices, University of Linköping, Lars Thylén, Professor of Photonics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (KTH) and Jan G. Nilsson, a successful entrepreneur. In a very short time they have put together a very strong team of experts within all four fields which are vital for success. Today, Optillion has experts in high- speed electronics, high-speed optics, automated manufacturing and encasing. The company currently employs 68 people of whom 46 are highly qualified engineers with M.Sc. degrees, and 20 of these also have Ph.D. degrees in electronics or photonics. Optillion's major shareholders are ITACT, Crescendo Ventures, Cisco Systems and Investor Growth Capital. Optillion has opted to build its own manufacturing facility in order to be able to manufacture transceivers for speeds of 10Gbps Ethernet at high levels of performance, high volumes and at a low cost. The facility will manufacture optochips and carry out the encasing and assembly of the transceivers. When the manufacturing facility is completed in mid 2001, it will be the core of Optillion's business operations. The new facility will be located in Stockholm. www.optillion.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/06/20010206BIT00320/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/06/20010206BIT00320/bit0002.pdf