News: Portfolio 2008

A Super-Cool Chip

Lightwire introduces the new information transmission technology at conference.

(continued)

Intel has so far not produced a commercial product, but has been regularly releasing information on its research through the journal Nature and other publications for the past few years. The company also publishes a public blog about the technology. As the world's largest chipmaker, with an arsenal of semiconductor plants, the company has a stake in using chip manufacturing technology to produce optical modules.

The Lightwire team has more than 50 patents on the technology. It has been working for several years in the basement of a building in Upper Macungie Township, in what Shastri called ''stealth'' mode. It recently moved up to brighter quarters on the fourth floor of the building.

"We were first, but we were quiet," he said.

The team at Lightwire highlights the deep well of expertise in fiber optics and semiconductors in the Valley. Much of this talent was developed by AT&T in the 1980s and 1990s. The talent was further incubated here by its spin-off, Lucent Technologies, and later by Agere Systems.

There was a time when many local entrepreneurs thought the Lehigh Valley could hold its own with larger optical firms in California. Indeed, some of the original research on fiber-optic networks took place at a facility in Breinigsville that AT&T built in the late 1980s. That plant is now occupied by CyOptics, which makes laser chips for fiber-optic networks.

While the Valley is no longer even a minor satellite to California's Silicon Valley, it has retained some optical experts. Shastri said about 40 percent of Lightwire's employees once worked at AT&T's Bell Laboratories.

Shastri thinks Lightwire is a worthy successor to AANetcom. He is proud that PMC-Sierra of Santa Clara, Calif., which bought AANetcom in 2000, continues to operate a research and design office in Lower Macungie Township.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5