Dublin, 27TH November 2009 – In a global first, Intune Networks, the Dublin based telecoms equipment supplier, today announced that it will give the first demonstration of its ground breaking technology, with a live, high definition transmission of the Snow Patrol concert on December 5th, at the Other Voices festival in Dingle.
Intune Networks has partnered with Other Voices to showcase its unique technological advance (a distributed telecoms switch based on Optical Burst Switching) that enables mass, live, simultaneous content downloads with guaranteed and unparalleled quality. It will transmit the Snow Patrol concert live, to audiences in a number of locations in Dingle. This world first demonstration illustrates that Intune’s ground breaking technology is ready to deliver the most demanding of live multi-media events and meet the consumer’s highest quality expectations across a multitude of devices and formats.
Tim Fritzley, CEO of Intune Networks said, “The Other Voices event in Dingle is the perfect platform to demonstrate and showcase Intune’s technology for the very first time. The technology was invented and developed in Ireland and it is fitting that a cultural event like Other Voices provides the backdrop for this demonstration. This combination will help underpin Ireland’s international reputation as a vibrant, dynamic, innovative society that values its living traditional and future technical cultures.
“More of life is shared and accessed on the Internet than any other medium and that trend will continue unabated with Internet traffic doubling every two years,” he went on to say. “The world will need a next generation optical burst switch such as Intune Networks’ that will deliver the quality of personal experience that everyone has come to expect. Our technology will do this with a very low carbon footprint, as it tackles the issue of the internet’s power consumption, which continues to dramatically rise with the increased use of existing network equipment.”
The demo will involve live, high definition streaming from the Snow Patrol Concert in St James’ Church to a number of locations in Dingle connected to a fibre optic network. For example, the concert can be viewed live in High Definition on screens located in Benners Hotel, or by connecting into to a local WiFi spot using a laptop or mobile device. Several other technology providers supplied user access equipment to connect to the Intune network, including Envivio, Magnet and ADB. What makes this different to a normal broadcast is that it is delivered over an optical burst packet switched fibre network and guarantees uninterrupted, premium quality content – something that has been unachievable before now.

Other Voices:
Since 2002 Other Voices has been bringing established international and Irish musicians and emerging talent of every musical genre to Dingle, Co. Kerry to participate in a series of off-season sessions to perform at St James Church in Dingle and recorded the concerts. Now in its eighth year, Other Voices has grown over the years but it has always remained true to its core and continues to be an exhilarating gathering of musical minds.
Over the years, the recording of the Other Voices television series has become a music festival in its own right. The beautiful town of Dingle provides the perfect backdrop for a diverse gathering of musical minds from across all genres of music. Over 250 acts have provided exclusive performances for the programme including Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Steve Earle, Amy Winehouse, Elbow, Damien Rice, Super Furry Animals, Ray Davies, Ryan Adams, Daniel Lanois, Alabama 3, The Charlatans, Seasick Steve, James Blunt and Peter, Bjorn and John.

Ends
For further information please contact:
Angie Kinane/Alison Mills
Q4 Public Relations
Tel: 01 475 1444
Mob: 086 851 2890

Dublin, 1st October 2009 - Intune Networks, the Dublin based telecoms equipment supplier, today announced that it has secured €22 million in its most recent funding round. Financier Dermot Desmond, through an investment vehicle (“Dermot Desmond”), and Venture capital firm Kernel Capital led the investment with additional funding provided by existing investors Balderton Capital, Amadeus Capital, Spark Capital as well as long term private investors. In addition, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland participated in this round of financing, to support Intune’s growth in Dublin and Belfast respectively.

The funding round, which was facilitated by Bowen Advisors, is the largest private equity investment in the global telecoms optical equipment sector in 2009. It is also the largest private equity investment round in the European telecoms equipment sector and the third largest in the European IT sector this year.

Tim Fritzley, CEO, Intune Networks said: “We received an extremely positive response to our recent fundraising road show and are delighted to have brought new investors, Dermot Desmond and Kernel Capital on board, as well as securing additional support from our existing investors and both governments, north and south of the border.

“The funding will be used for the full commercial product launch in mid 2010, as well as for expanding market coverage beyond the European carriers on into North America and Asia. There are tremendous global opportunities for Intune Networks to roll out its innovative technology to help revolutionise how next generation networks and web services are developed and delivered. We are now fully resourced and sufficiently funded to take advantage of these opportunities, to grow the company in new geographies and to cement our leadership in markets where we are already established.”

Dermot Desmond said: “I have given my support because we are firmly of the view that Intune Networks has developed a disruptive technology that will change the way that telecommunications services are delivered. I’m also delighted to have the opportunity to invest in an Irish company that has developed such a ground breaking technology. More innovation of this kind will help to reinvigorate the North and South economies.”

Niall Olden, Kernel Capital noted, “It’s a testament to the strength and potential of Intune Network’s technology that it has successfully raised funding in the current economic climate. I look forward to watching Tim Fritzley and his team further grow and develop the company as it rolls out its highly innovative telecommunications technology following ten years of research and development.”

Intune Networks was named to lead the Government’s programme to build Ireland’s Exemplar Smart Network in July 2009. The network will be the first step in creating a next generation smart and green communications infrastructure for Ireland. The decision to develop the network using the Intune Network’s technological approach was announced by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan at the publication of ‘Technology Actions to Support the Smart Economy’ strategy document.

Ends

For further information please contact:

Angie Kinane/Alison Mills
Q4 Public Relations
Tel: 01 475 1444
Mob: 087 8126249 / 086 851 2890

About Intune Networks

Intune Networks was founded in Dublin in 1999 by John Dunne and Tom Farrell, both UCD graduates who were researching laser technology in European funded programmes. Over the next 10 years, Intune developed and refined its technology to solve a critical problem in the optical networking sector and this solution is now being brought to market as a family of telecom switch products. Along the way, Intune supplied expertise and technology to many European and US research programmes building a customer base of the world’s leading academic and commercial research groups. Now, Intune is focussed on the telecoms equipment market where the next generation of digital service requirements such as quality of experience and high bandwidths are creating a new global opportunity. Intune currently employs 120 people and has design centres in Dublin and Belfast.

The problem Intune has solved is how to evolve network architectures to cope with the massive increase in unpredictable traffic demand while sustaining profitability and controlling costs. They have achieved this through their breakthrough technology named Optical Packet Switch and Transport (OPST). Intune has packaged this breakthrough technology into a carrier-grade networking system which will be available for deployment in 2010. Network operators all over the world are currently trying to solve this networking issue, and a large global market exists for Intune’s new product line. Early versions of the products are already on trial with several large European operators having validated the core technology performance over the past 2 years.

About Kernel Capital

Kernel Capital is one of Ireland’s largest and most active venture capital funds. Established in 2002 the firm has an excellent portfolio of investee companies across, technology, life science and general industry. With investment funds of €170M under management through Kernel Capital and its associate company Seroba Kernel. The firm targets investment opportunities in the €250K to €5M range. All sectors and all stages of a company’s development are considered. The firm maintains an open mind on the method of investment, judging each proposition on its merits. The Kernel Team has been instrumental in numerous corporate finance and IP licensing transactions totalling several hundred million Euros.

Dublin, 18th September 2009 - Intune Networks presented its vision for an examplar network, at the request of the Irish Government, to the Global Irish Economic Forum, which took place at Farmleigh Estate near Dublin on 18-20 September 2009. The forum brought together 180 of the most influential members of the global Irish community with a record of high achievement in business and culture.

According to the Minister for foreign Affairs, who hosted the event, it was designed as a step towards addressing Ireland’s current economic challenges and as a platform for the development of a long term strategy which will channel the enormous potential of the Irish global community.

Intune Networks presented its vision for an Exemplar Network as part of a session on ‘Ireland, The Innovation Island.’ Tim Fritzley, CEO of Intune Networks demonstrated how creating an Exemplar Smart Network based on Intune Network’s world leading technology will give Ireland first mover advantage in the establishment of a Smart Economy, helping Ireland leapfrog its international peers in digital infrastructure. This development will position Ireland as a global innovation leader and will potentially deliver significant economic benefits to the Irish economy.

“We were thrilled to have been chosen by Government to demonstrate the Exemplar Network as part of the Global Economic Forum,” said Tim Fritzley. “The Forum focussed some of the brightest minds from around the globe and here in Ireland on how we can address the economic challenges that we are currently facing.

“I firmly believe that the Exemplar Smart Network is a key element of the infrastructure that we need to build a true Smart Economy and will put Ireland a number of years ahead of other countries in communications technology. This in turn will foster hundreds, if not thousands of jobs, through the development of an indigenous ecosystem of companies, who will use it as a platform for developing and testing new applications as well as attracting international investment.”

The innovative technology developed by Intune Networks (optical burst packet switching) has been identified as the key component to support the Exemplar Network as announced by Minister Eamon Ryan in the Irish government report “Technology Actions to Support the Smart Economy” found at http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/26C23436-E6B3-4842-95B3-20BD2AF104D6/0/FinalVersionTechnologyActionsReportFinal210709.doc

In addition it has been announced that Intune’s innovative technology will be used to locally broadcast several music performances during the Other Voices show in Dingle this December. This will be the world’s first use of optical burst switching to transmit a live performance. The Exemplar will be the first step in creating a next generation smart and green communications test bed infrastructure for Ireland.

Further information on the forum can be found at www.globalirishforum.com

For further information please contact:
Alison Mills
Q4 Public Relations
Tel: 00 353 1 475 1444
Mob: 00 353 86 851 2890

Dublin, Tuesday 21st July 2009 - Intune Networks, the Irish telecoms equipment design company, was today named to lead the Government’s programme to build Ireland’s Exemplar Smart Network. The Exemplar will be the first step in creating a next generation smart and green communications infrastructure for Ireland. The decision to develop the exemplar network using the Intune Networks technological approach was announced  by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan at the publication of ‘Technology Actions to Support the Smart Economy’ strategy document.
According to Minister Ryan, creating an Exemplar Smart Network based on Intune Network’s world leading technology will give Ireland first mover advantage in the establishment of a Smart Economy, helping Ireland leapfrog its international peers in digital infrastructure.  This development will position Ireland as a global innovation leader and will potentially deliver significant economic benefits to the Irish economy.  The network will be used to demonstrate and highlight the breadth and depth of Ireland’s vision, technologies, research and corporate capabilities which will help to attract more inward investment, rapidly expand job creation and stimulate the Smart Economy.
Minister Ryan, making the announcement, said, “Today we are setting a new economic direction for Ireland.   In the future, those countries that focus on the development of new energy and communications technologies are those that will have the competitive edge. With Irish companies like InTune Networks leading in research and innovation, today we are securing the investment and employment of the future. The Smart economy is the successful economy, and it’s one to which the Government is committed.”
Tim Fritzley, CEO, Intune Networks said: “The Irish Government has shown great vision in identifying the potential that the creation of a fibre optic based Smart Network can deliver for the broader Irish economy. By developing this network, as well as implementing the other actions announced today, Ireland will be a number of years ahead of other countries.  The converged vision of the Exemplar Network, Dependable Green Energy, and efficient Content and Data Centres, will position Ireland to create and attract the kinds of jobs and investments that the economy requires in order to achieve the vision of becoming a Smart Economy. We are delighted to support the government in this venture and to play our part in creating a genuine knowledge society and smart economy. The Exemplar Smart Network will open significant opportunities for Ireland as indigenous companies use it as a platform for developing and testing new applications and international companies come to Ireland to base R&D activity here.”
Intune Networks has developed the world’s first programmable fibre optic platform which is critical to building an Exemplar Smart Network. This new technology will help to bring the Internet and World Wide Web to the next level, allowing high quality, on-demand and interactive services. Developing this technology has the potential to position Ireland for a wave of opportunities based on the future of the Internet that up to now have been considered an area of expertise of regions like Silicon Valley in the US and several Far Eastern countries who are pushing the boundaries of consumer broadband networks.   As the government announced today, lab trials are expected to commence early 2010 with the rollout of the first phase of the Exemplar Smart Network operation before the end of that year.
Intune Networks estimates that the Exemplar Network will allow for the creation of 50 new high tech jobs in the next year and a further 300 additional high tech jobs within the next three years as the network is rolled out. The company already employs 100 people in Dublin and Belfast (of which 90% are high tech R&D jobs, and half are Masters or PhD level).  Tim Fritzley has stated that Intune Networks has already become a magnet attracting the best talent from Ireland and the EU.  In addition to planned future growth at Intune, the development of the network could lead to several thousands of related jobs being created in local indigenous companies and by multi-nationals that chose to locate an R&D base here.  Intune Networks had not originally considered Ireland as the creator of such a critical programme but the strength of the government’s converged vision convinced the company to dedicate the necessary resources for creating, launching, and operating this next generation program.
John Dunne, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Intune Networks noted: “We have spent the past ten years developing the technology to address the challenge presented by growing amounts of data and video traffic on the internet. Through our work we have invented the programmable fibre optic network. It uses up to 75% less energy than today’s networks which are dominated by electronics. This green and smart network will enable new consumer, business and mobile data services to be delivered with 50% less cost and with major advancement in the quality experience for end users.  By making the decision to invest in the development of an Exemplar Smart Network in combination with the other actions announced today, Ireland will have the most advanced network in the World. We believe that the new network will be the foundation stone for Ireland’s Smart Economy and are very excited about commencing the development work on this critical project and in building and growing our company to ensure we can play our part in helping to deliver this strategy.”
Ends/
For further information please contact:
Angie Kinane / Alison Mills - Q4PR
Tel:   00 353 1 4751444
Mob: 00 353 87 812 6249 or 00 353 86 851 2890

About Intune Networks
Intune Networks was founded in 1999 by two UCD graduates and early clients included MIT, the European Space Agency, NASA and the US Defense and Advanced Research Projects Agency. Intune, in which Enterprise Ireland has invested, has been awarded a series of global patents around its core and proprietary innovations. Intune has received €25m in private venture funding to date from Irish and international investors.
Intune networks has solved one of the most critical problems in the development of next generation fibre-optic communications networks (cracking the colour code of light) which delivers the USA’s original vision of a superfast digital highway of the 90’s and achieves a significant reduction in energy utilisation. Intune is a global leader in optical burst switching for Metro Networks . Intune uses tuneable light (from semiconductor lasers) to switch and transmit telecoms traffic. This leads to a simplified network with improved predictability and performance while at the same time reducing power consumption.
As internet traffic grows at exponential rates, existing infrastructure will struggle to cope with the huge volume of information building in the network. To address this issue, and to solve the problems of increased internet traffic over the next 30 years, it has been identified that networks need to move to Optical Burst Packet Switching and Transport (OPST).  In parallel, by moving to this new paradigm, it will improve today’s overall network performance threefold; reduce the carbon footprint by at least 75%; reduce capital expenditure by 50%-70% and reduce ongoing operation costs and complexity by over 60%.

Trail-blazing telecommunications company, Intune Networks, has today launched a fresh recruitment drive to fill 22 high technology vacancies before the end of September. This follows on from its announcement of a £9.27m investment in Northern Ireland in April. It has promised to create 77 jobs by the end of 2010 in its research and development centre in Weavers Court in the city centre. Jayne Brady, General Manager in Belfast, said high calibre individuals should apply for the posts, which will be split between Belfast and Dublin.

She added: “This latest announcement means the company will have exceeded its initial projections for staffing levels in Northern Ireland by more than 50%.”

Intune Networks builds optical networking platforms for telecoms operators to give customers guaranteed quality service. The new telecoms networking platform, targeted at the metro area network, guarantees a reduced carbon footprint and a greener future for the telecoms industry. The Intune Belfast centre will develop and design key parts of the platform and in the future provide test and customer support facilities.

Tim Fritzley, chief executive officer of Intune Networks – which at the moment employs 36 staff in Belfast - said: “The Belfast research and development centre will develop key subsystems of our new product line. This product line has the potential to solve some the largest cost-performance problems facing the telecoms world today and we are attracting significant interest from European carriers.
“Our continued growth in Belfast taps into the outstanding history of telecoms excellence in the Northern Ireland region which will be key as we roll out solutions to the national telecommunications networks of Europe.” He said staff recruited so far had exceeded expectations.

“The calibre of the people recruited to date, and their wealth of experience in the design and development of large scale telecommunications platforms, has been exceptional.

“In fact, we expect we will ultimately employ over 100 people in the research and development centre. We believe the Belfast office will be crucial to the quality and competitiveness of our products in international markets.”

For more information, visit http://www.intunenetworks.com/site/jobs/.

Dublin,  3rd October 2008 – Intune Networks, a pioneer in developing a next generation of Telecoms network equipment, today announces the appointment of Ian Jenks as the new chairman of the company. Intune is also announcing the addition of Barry Maloney to the board of directors, representing Balderton Capital. Ian and Barry join existing directors Simon Cornwell and Todd Dagres representing Amadeus Capital and Spark Capital respectively.

“We are very excited to welcome Ian Jenks as our new chairman. His vast experience and long-standing track record in building great optical technology companies will add tremendously to Intune’s ability to execute on its vision, “ said Tim Fritzley, CEO of Intune.

Ian Jenks is currently a private investor in technology start-ups and a board member of a number of privately held companies. He is the former president of the Laser and Fiber Optics Division at Uniphase Corp. where he managed international business operations in Oxford, Zurich and the Netherlands. He was also an initial investor in and chairman of IE Optomech Ltd., a United Kingdom-based company that developed diode-pumped solid-state lasers for biotechnology applications.

“Barry Maloney is one of Ireland’s telecom entrepreneurs and we are delighted to have Barry join the board of the company. Intune has developed all of its technology in Ireland and Barry is a leading investor and supporter of Irish technology companies.”

Barry Maloney is a partner at Balderton Capital, who invested in Intune in August 2007. Most recently he sat on the board of Bebo. Prior to joining Balderton Capital, Barry spent five years as CEO of Esat Digifone, Ireland’s second largest GSM mobile operator. Under Barry’s leadership, Esat Digifone expanded to a profitable company with 900 employees, more than one million customers and IR£400 million in revenues. Esat Digifone was acquired by British Telecom at a market value of IR£2 billion and is now part of the O2 Group.

For Intune Networks:
John Dunne, Chief Marketing Officer
Tel: 353 1 620 4700
john.dunne@intunenetworks.com

Dublin, 28th May 2008 – Intune Networks, a leading developer of technology based on tunable lasers since 1999, will now focus on the telecommunications market exclusively. Following an injection of US$17.5m in funding last August, Intune has been working with its existing customer base to transition from technology supply to a licensing model. From today, Intune will no longer manufacture its existing product lines and will focus exclusively on a new product line for the telecommunications industry.

Tim Fritzley, CEO of the company said, “Intune has been pioneering the use of dynamic optical technology in a variety of markets such as Oil and Gas, Security and Defence and Process Engineering. However, the Telecommunications market represents the largest single opportunity for Intune and we are focussing all our resources in that direction.”

Commenting on the restructuring, John Dunne, founder and chief marketing officer said, “As the technology has matured over the past 9 years, we are now in a position to offer a technology transfer program with long-term licensing agreements to our lead customers. This will be completed on a first come, first served basis out to the end of this year.”

Intune is making a variety of technologies available through this licensing program, including the AltoWave1100 fast swept laser system and the AltoWave5500 sensor interrogation system. Other technologies available include the AltoWave1300 and the AltoWave3300 used in process engineering markets. Intune will also cease to sell its AltoNet series of networking modules in order to focus its resources on a new line of optical networking technology.

For Intune Networks:
John Dunne, Chief Marketing Officer
Tel: 353 1 620 4700
john.dunne@intunenetworks.com

Intune Networks, a leading developer of technology for telecommunications networks, is pleased to announce that it has raised $17.75m from a consortium of international investors consisting of Amadeus Capital Partners, Balderton Capital (formerly known as Benchmark Capital Europe) and Spark Capital. Intune Networks was formed in Dublin in 1999 by John Dunne, chief marketing officer, and Tom Farrell, chief technology officer. Over the past eight years, the Intune team has developed a global reputation for their expertise in lasers, and this fund-raising will provide the resources to commercialise their innovations for the telecommunications market.

In August 2006, the company recruited Tim Fritzley, a senior executive in Microsoft’s IPTV division, as chief executive to accelerate the build-out of the business. Tim Fritzley said: “The telecommunications landscape is undergoing enormous change right now. New networks are being designed to meet the huge consumer pull for video and other digital entertainment on-demand. Intune has the technology to solve some key problems for the large carriers, particularly with guaranteed service quality and network robustness.” He added: “The proceeds of the funding round give management the resources to accelerate its strategy. We are delighted to be supported by a world-class consortium of venture firms, each of which understands what it takes to commercialise leading edge technology at scale.”

John Dunne, chief marketing officer, said: “We have nurtured our core technology and team over many years and have developed extensive intellectual property. Now the market is demanding the type of optical network innovation we can deliver. We will be announcing new products next year.”

Commenting on the investment, George Coelho, of Balderton Capital said: “The demands of the consumer have evolved significantly over the past decade and the requirement to deliver diverse, high quality content in real-time is paramount to the success of the fixed line telecoms industry. This presents an exciting opportunity for Intune. We are delighted to be involved with Intune and share their vision for the optical networking business.”

For more information about Intune Networks, visit www.intunenetworks.com or email: support@intunenetworks.com

In my last 2 articles I introduced the electronically tunable laser (eventually) and compared it to other types, describing the state of the art in the industry today. In the next few blogs I would like to talk about all of the really practical issues around making and using these devices.

I have always believed that the only tunable laser type that would make it to volume production was the electronically tunable laser. In fact we bet the company on it – literally!

The reasons are:
• It can be “grown” like any semiconductor wafer by diffusing gases onto a base disk of semiconductor material, making 1000’s of lasers on one disk
• It is small enough to efficiently launch light into a fibre optic cable directly from the output light facet, so it can be tested at chip level
• It has no moving parts making it easier to handle and control reliably
• The ability to control it electronically at fast speeds ensures that a fast calibration time is possible
• The ability to control it electronically ensures that it can be controlled during operation
• There are well-known methods for testing the lifetime of the laser chips by accelerating their ageing using high temperatures and high control currents, and this enables predictable reliability
• Finally, it can be integrated with other micro-devices ensuring it has a roadmap for future development and market growth

Neither temperature tuned lasers nor mechanically tuned lasers can meet this list of criteria. Over the last 8 years, this list has helped the electronically tuned laser to dominate in the market and it is these fundamentals of manufacturing that made it happen.

So it proves that having a great technology is not always good enough, it must be capable of being manufactured for it to become used within industry and scale to any reasonable market size. This sounds so obvious, yet billions of dollars were invested in tunable laser technologies that blatantly didn’t meet the list of criteria given above.

Next time, I am going to talk about tunable laser calibration – something that I have spent most of my career involved in. This was the first significant industry problem that Intune solved and our first products were calibration solutions for the laser manufacturing industry.

John Dunne, CMO

(Please note that this is a continuation in a series of Blogs - see previous posts)

When it comes to the state of the art in electronically tunable lasers, then we are really talking about a 1-millimetre long piece of semiconductor material that is capable of tuning over the full communications band of wavelengths or frequencies, from around 1520nm to 1560nm. This allows the laser device to hit any of the standard (ITU) wavelengths used in WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) optical fibre transmission systems.

There are 3 such devices commercially available from JDSU, Bookham and Syntune and here are the links:

(1) http://www.jdsu.com/products/optical-communications/

products/tunable-transmission-modules.html

(2) http://www.bookham.com/datasheets/transmitters/TL-5000.cfm

(3) http://www.syntune.com/products.html

While the generic description above probably fits all 3 devices at some level, they all have their own unique characteristics, advantages and faults, but they all do the same basic job. In each device you can inject electric current and tune the output colour of the light in a controlled fashion.

I will try to describe the differences between the 3 devices by referring to the basic structure of a laser. That is, a laser consists of a pair of mirrors on either side of a light source. The light is produced by the source, then bounces between the mirrors and is amplified while it travels around.

In that context, the JDS laser has 2 tunable mirrors on either side of the light source. The Bookham laser has multiple tunable mirrors in series on one side of the light source and uses the edge of the semiconductor chip (where the light comes out) as a second semi-transparent non-tunable mirror. Finally, the Syntune laser as 2 tunable mirrors both on one side of the light source but in parallel, and like the Bookham device, it also uses the edge of the chip as a second mirror on the other side of the semiconductor light source. All sounds simple enough?!

In all three cases, the tunable mirrors help pick out a single colour or wavelength (or mode of laser light), and then allow you to tune that across the full band of colours required.

All 3 companies have then integrated the basic laser with a variety of different functional blocks, different packaging and different control systems to produce a range of products. They have added the ability to modulate the output light – turning it on and off to send digital data. Amplification has been added. All of them have a small temperature controlled environment in which the laser sits, and they all use some kind of wavelength locking mechanism to ensure ongoing feedback for stability control. The product ranges then add on electronics and interfaces to allow simple and straightforward digital control of the output colour of the light.

Over many years Intune has tested all three devices extensively and there is a lifetimes worth of work there in understanding their operation and controlling them for various types of usage. You can look at the output of the laser in various ways for example, you can examine its output power, or its output wavelength, but you can also look at the stability of the laser, its signal-to-noise figures of merit, and its long-term behaviour as the semiconductor naturally degrades.

For system engineers, the laser behaves like a multi-dimensional parameterised system with 5-15 input variables and 5-10 output variables, none of which are pairs of independently controllable values! To make these things work, you must solve that level of difficulty in system control.

The bottom line is that the state of the art is incredibly complex and contains 20 years of evolution and revolution in the laser world embedded into tiny chips. The electronically tunable lasers are now a type of de-facto standard in the telecommunications industry, but because of their complexity, the roadmap to practical and stable usage was long and hard.

It was back in 1990 that the inventor of the widely tunable laser (the SG-DBR that JDSU sell today), Professor Larry Coldren of the University of California Santa-Barbara wrote in his famous paper on the laser:

“…output power variation with tuning and control complexity are only two of many unexplored issues….Others include wavelength switching time, linewidth, and device yield. The clarification of these issues will decide the ultimate usefulness of these lasers.” - Coldren et al, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, June 1993.

It has taken the best part of 20 years to really come to grips with all of these aspects of the various devices and as the chips themselves are being improved and the market packaging demands are growing ever more stringent, these lessons are having to be continually relearnt and adapted going forward.

In the next few blogs, I want to talk about these “issues”, how they arise and why the problem is so complex. I am proud to say that Intune has successfully solved many of these problems by pushing the lasers into a variety of new application areas, and the team at Intune have as many years experience working with the application of these lasers as anyone else on the planet.