Opto Insider is the more-or-less weekly blog of market analyst Tom Hausken of Strategies Unlmited. In the blog, he provides comments on trends in laser and photonics markets and the context in which they operate. The blog ranges from exerpts of findings from recent market reports to thoughts on market segments not currently covered in a report. One week he may report on how the customers in a sector are faring financially, and the next he may compare the optoelectronics market to the wine industry. Strategies Unlimited has the advantage of having covered photonics for over 20 years, and it has records of the market dating back over 40 years.
Dr. Hausken has over 25 years in the semiconductor and optoelectronics industries, spanning device and materials research, product development, laboratory management, and technology and market analysis. Joining the Strategies Unlimited staff in 1999, he specializes in studies in optical and electronic components, including active and passive components for optical networks, and image sensors.
Larry's VC View is the bi-weekly blog by photonics entrepreneur and budding venture capitalist Dr. Larry Marshall who shares his thoughts and reflections on the VC scene, as he makes the transition from serial entrepreneur and engineer, to Venture capitalist. He hopes to share his experiences, lessons and mistakes with fellow entrepreneurs seeking venture funding.
He recently completed the first IPO of a Silicon Valley company on the Australian exchange, and is now a Partner at the first Australian financed Venture fund to operate in Silicon Valley, leveraging his entrepreneurial experience to help budding companies find their niche in Silicon Valley.
He has lived in the USA for the past 18 years, and founded 6 successful companies in biotechnology, photonics, and semiconductors, two of which achieved successful IPOs, and the remainder resulted in high-return trade sales. He holds 18 patents and has over 100 publications and presentations. Larry was born in Sydney Australia, and received his BS Honors from Macquarie University (Sydney), and PhD from the Commonwealth Centre of Excellence
Sarah is a leading authority on technical training and process improvement for the photonics industry. She has successfully developed and launched technical training courses and certification programs for the photonics industry since 1999 and her Laser Technology Series program currently has more than 10,000 corporate trainees on-course via corporate intranet learning systems. Some of her clients include Spectra-Physics, Coherent, KLA-Tencor, Carl Zeiss Meditec, JDS Uniphase, Lightwave Electronics, SPIE, NASA, The Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman, Wylie Labs, Canesta, Rockwell Collins, the USMC, and the USAF.
Sarah began her career in 1986 as a co-op student working in the Solid State Laser Materials Lab at the NASA Langley Research Center, where she was part of the team that developed titanium-doped sapphire as a laser medium. She has also held research and management positions at The Analytic Sciences Corporation (TASC), where she worked at Brooks Air Force base on eye-damage studies and laser-eyewear development, and Lightwave Electronics as a manufacturing supervisor of diode-pumped solid state lasers. In 1999, Sarah started a training company to help Silicon Valley laser manufacturers train their technical workforces in the fundamentals of lasers and optics, including optics inspection, handling, and cleaning, optical alignment, and geometric optics. Her newest venture is a consulting firm that helps photonics companies improve their bottom lines through corporate audits of critical processes and implementing in-house certification programs.
Sarah received degrees in applied physics from Old Dominion University (Hampton, VA) and the University of Texas (San Antonio, TX), and in philosophy from DePaul University (Chicago, IL). Sarah is also a CAT I and CAT II certified laser safety officer.
David A. Belforte is an internationally recognized authority on industrial laser materials processing. For nearly a quarter of a century he has been the industry champion behind the Industrial Laser Solutions franchise, tirelessly monitoring the pulse of the global industrial laser materials processing sector. His consulting business, Belforte Associates, serves clients interested in advanced manufacturing applications. After obtaining a BS and MBA degrees from Northeastern University (Boston, MA), Belforte as a research staffer conducted basic studies in material synthesis for high-temperature applications. Subsequently he held important positions with companies involved with transitioning high-technology materials processing into industry. He co-founded a company that introduced several firsts in high-energy beam welding technology and equipment. His career in lasers started with the commercialization of the first industrial solid-state laser and a compact, moveable CO2 laser for sheet-metal cutting. For several years, he led the development of very high power CO2 laser applications in welding and surface treating.
Barbara G. Goode, Editor in Chief of BioOptics World, has spent more than 20 years writing about technology. She also writes and edits for Laser Focus World; and previously served as chief editor for Small Times and Sensors, where she covered various technologies for medical and other uses. The BioOptics Worldview blog aims to provide useful analysis of technical and market advances in lasers, optics, and imaging for the life sciences.
