January 17, 2003--Lightwaves2020 and Intelligent Photonics Control Corp. announced that they have signed an agreement to jointly develop a new generation of intelligent optical amplifiers.

The amplifiers will be based on optical components from Lightwaves2020 and Photonics Control's control platform. The latter consists of integrated optoelectronic technologies supported by standards-based software, and signal processing firmware and algorithms. The two companies boast the expected result will "offer unprecedented control and functionality in a low-cost, small footprint solution."

Lightwaves2020 develops and manufactures a range of integrated optical products, including low-cost EDFAs, intelligent WDM modules, variable optical attenuators, fiber lasers, DWDMs, OADMs, and optical power monitors. Photonics Control offers off-the-shelf intelligent controllers that provide sophisticated control features in a low-cost, standard platform solution.