OpNext, Inc., Hitachi, Ltd.'s (NYSE: HIT) Fiber Optic Components Business Unit spin-
off, today announced that its Board of Directors named Harry L. Bosco as President
and Chief Executive Officer. The company's Board of Director's also named industry
veterans Dr. Minoru Maeda as Chief Operating Officer, and Chris Lin as Senior Vice
President, Global Sales and Marketing.
"We are extremely excited to have Harry as OpNext's leader. Harry's keen insight
and vision of the direction of communications technology, coupled with the company's
state of the art product line of laser diodes, transmitters and receivers, will
position us very competitively moving forward" said Mr. Masaaki Hayashi, Chairman of
OpNext and President and Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi's Telecommunication &
Information Infrastructure Systems Group. "His strong expertise and compelling track
record solidified Lucent's position as an industry innovator. Under Harry's leadership,
our customers, the network system providers, will be given the best, customized next-
generation optical equipment that will meet their future needs. Harry's twenty-year
relationship with Hitachi as a customerof its components business will be integral to
his direct role as CEO in facilitating OpNext's plans for progress and development."
"This team has unparalleled operational experience. We are fortunate to utilize the
specialized expertise of Harry, a Clarity Special Venture Partner, to lead OpNext, one
of our portfolio companies," said Dr. David Lee, Co-Chairman of OpNext, Managing General
Partner of Clarity Partners, and co-founder and former President and Chief Operating
Officer of Global Crossing Ltd. "Harry is establishing a successful management team
which will create a leading, global optical component company." Mr. Bosco recently
joined Los Angeles-based private equity firm Clarity Partners, L.P. as a Special Venture
Partner. Prior to joining Clarity, Mr. Bosco was Group President of Optical Networking
at Lucent Technologies. Prior to that, Mr. Bosco held the ranks of Consumer Products
Chief Technical Officer, Wired Technology and Initial Production Center Vice President,
President of the Network Systems Broadband Networking Unit, Chief Operating Officer for
the Optical Networking Group, and Chief Technical Officer of Service Provider Networks
at Lucent Technologies. During his distinguished 35 year tenure, Bosco led the
development of Lucent's core data networking architecture, helped develop the company's
broadband networking strategy, and deployed Lucent's optical networking product portfolio.
"Hitachi has a heritage of leadership in semiconductors and optical lasers with a proven
history of reliability and customer satisfaction," said Mr. Bosco. "Now, with OpNext,
we are at the cutting-edge of technology for next generation networks and the OpNext
team is devoted to a business strategy of continued leadership and long-term growth.
The creation of OpNext is the best way to expand the already exiting product line, and
most importantly to strengthen the continuity of our customer base by responding to their
future demands and needs in the marketplace. We are confident that OpNext will be one
of the global leaders in the optical components industry."
Dr. Maeda will focus on the overall operations of OpNext. Dr. Maeda joined Hitachi's
Central Research Laboratories (CRL) in 1967, engaging in the development of microwave
and millimeter-wave communications, and in 1975, he initiated the R&D of fiberoptic
transmission technologies at CRL. In 1981, Dr. Maeda was appointed Group Leader of
the Fiberoptic Transmission Group of CRL and he led the SDH system product development
for the Hitachi Telecom Division and the fiberopitc component development for Hitachi's
Fiberoptics Division and Hitachi Cable, Ltd. Since then, Dr. Maeda was appointed head
of the Optoelectronics Laboratory in 1988, General Manager of Fiberoptics Division of
Hitachi, Ltd. in 1993, and upon the combining of the Fiberoptics Division and the
Telecommunications Division in 1995, Dr. Maeda was appointed Vice President/General
Manager of Fiberoptic System and Component Business of the Telecom. Division.
"I am very pleased to be working with Dr. Maeda, who is well known and highly regarded
in the technical community and within our customer base," said Mr. Bosco. "Dr. Maeda
has a unique background that makes him a valuable COO. He knows Hitachi's
telecommunications business extremely well and he shares a similar belief that our goal
is to provide our customers, the network system providers, the best possible
technology to meet the explosive demand in the marketplace."
Chris Lin will assume responsibility for all sales and marketing operations for OpNext.
Formerly Lucent Technologies' China Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Lin was responsible
for the overall Lucent China Business Unit's daily operations, including sales and
marketing, business management, business development, technical support, project
management and implementation, and Joint Venture management. Prior to that position,
Mr. Lin was the Vice President of Wireless Networks Group responsible for the overall
wireless business in China. His primary focus was on sales and marketing for Lucent
GSM and CDMA products. Before his Wireless Networks Group assignment, Mr. Lin was the
Managing Director of Lucent Optical Networks Group for the China Region. Before joining
Lucent, Mr. Lin held Product Development and Product Marketing positions at Siemens
Telecommunication Systems Limited (Taiwan) and System Engineering position at Bellcore
(now Telcordia Technologies).
"Chris has over 15 years of experience in the selling of products and services to the
communications industry and understands the needs of the customer base that OpNext will
be addressing. We are pleased to have Chris join our senior leadership team," said Mr.
Bosco. "He has the right experience to help us develop our sales and marketing engine
quickly."
OpNext will be headquartered in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Company is leasing
a 15,000 square foot facility that will house most of the global corporate functions
as well as a state-of-the-art research and development laboratory. OpNext will have
operating divisions based both in Tokyo and the U.S. The Company will expand upon
Hitachi's already well-established product line, which includes laser diode modules,
transmitters and receivers for up to OC-192/STM-64s . Currently, OpNext's customers
include most of the world's major telecommunications and data communications and
industrial equipment manufacturers.
OpNext, Inc.
OpNext Inc. (URL:http://www.opnext.com), headquartered in Monmouth County, New Jersey, is
one of the world's leading designers and manufacturers of optical components for the
data and telecommunications industries. OpNext's current products include state of the
art laser diodes, transmitters and receivers for networks operating at speeds up to OC-
192/STM-64. OpNext Japan, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of OpNext, Inc., based in
Yokohama City, takes over Hitachi's optical component development and manufacturing
teams. It will aggressively enhance development powers to meet future demands by
developing cutting-edge technologies, utilizing existing Hitachi's superior technologies
and also collaborating with Hitachi's world-leading R&D laboratories.
Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd. (URL:http://global.hitachi.com), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of
the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1999 (ended March 31,2000)
consolidated sales of 8,001 billion yen (US$75.5 billion). Hitachi, Ltd. manufactures
and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer
products and power and industrial equipment. Since 1980, Hitachi has led the industry in
developing and mass-producing fiber optic devices such as 2.5Gbps opto-electronic modules
and 10Gbps opto-electronic modules.
Clarity Partners
Clarity Partners (URL:http://www.claritypartners.net), a private equity investment firm based
in Los Angeles, California, invests in communications, emerging media and related
technology companies. The firm's partners have extensive experience in successfully
creating, investing in, and managing and financing companies at all stages of
development. Clarity Partners brings together investment professionals who were
involved in three of the most successful transactions in the communications industry
in the last decade, Global Crossing, WebTV Networks, Inc. and Univision Communications,
Inc. In addition to OpNext, recent investments include MetroPCS, an independent
U.S. PCS provider in major metropolitan markets covering 20 million POPs; Comstellar
Technologies, a company established to develop a group of independent communications
infrastructure companies that will drive the next generation of communications; and
OpenReach, Inc., a network service that enables companies to create secure office-to-
office connections through the Internet.
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