OXFORDSHIRE, U.K., July 11, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bookham Technology plc (LSE:BHM) (Nasdaq:BKHM), a leading provider of integrated optical components and subsystems for fiber optic communication networks, announces that its 4 channel Electronic Variable Optical Attenuator (EVOA) has completed and passed the Telcordia GR1221 qualification programme and has been approved for use by a major network system manufacturer. The EVOA is used in a leading Metro system to provide rapid, remote channel balancing, and is now being shipped in production volumes.
Bookham Technology's EVOA is the industry's first siliconbased optical attenuator, manufactured using the company's proprietary ASOCa technology. This device offers megahertz speed response time. The ASOC EVOA uses silicon's semiconductor properties to attenuate light at speeds orders of magnitude faster than competitive approaches, by using free carrier absorption through a pn junction, a mechanism similar to that used in semiconductor diodes. This speed adds genuine functionality to the EVOA, which can be used to balance fast transient signals. The product also has a very high dynamic range, with attenuation up to 45 dB, without dynamic PDL.
The EVOA product family offers excellent optical performance coupled with solid state reliability, and is also available integrated on a single chip with other optical components such as optical power monitors, Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs) and switches.
Bookham Technology (LSE:BHM) (Nasdaq:BKHM) designs, manufactures and markets integrated multifunctional active and passive optical components using high volume production methods. With three disruptive semiconductor technologies: patented siliconbased ASOC, Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide, the company provides endtoend networking solutions that offer higher performance and greater systems capability to communications network system providers.
The company, whose securities are traded on Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange, is headquartered in the U.K., with offices and manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and U.K., and has additional offices in France, Italy, Japan and China. The company employs approximately 850 people worldwide.
More information on Bookham Technology is available at www.bookham.com Bookham and ASOC are registered trademarks of Bookham Technology plc