Intel buys New Focus unit for $50 million

Intel has acquired the tunable laser business of New Focus along with its technology for $50 million in cash, the company announced Thursday. Under the deal, Intel will license New Focus technology and supply certain products to New Focus, which will use these capabilities to continue supplying products to the test and measurement markets. About 40 employees from New Focus have joined Intel's communications unit and will work out of Intel's facility in Newark, Calif.

Intel said in a statement that the purchase will help it offer telecom equipment makers low-cost tunable lasers that will speed the adoption of DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) gear by telecom carriers. DWDM technology increases the amount of information that can be sent over glass fibers in optical networks.