Picolight

About Picolight

Picolight Incorporated was a developer and manufacturer of optical communication components, specializing in high-bandwidth optical transceivers. Founded in 1995 by Stan Swirhun and Jack Jewell, former executives of Vixel Corp., the company was headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. The founders' vision was to apply short-reach optics to address the need for cost-effective transceiver products for distances between 100 meters and 10 kilometers.

The company's core technology centered on Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), which it integrated into small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers. This technology offered performance and reliability advantages over traditional edge-emitting lasers, particularly for data communications. Picolight's product portfolio served the data center, enterprise, storage area networking (SAN), and metro networking markets, enabling high-speed optical interconnects from 1 to 30 Gigabits-per-second. The firm was a key player in developing standards for 10 Gbit/s Ethernet and shipped over one million SFP products.

Picolight was a venture-backed company, raising approximately $132 million over seven funding rounds. Its largest round was for $38.9 million in October 2000, led by Pequot Private Equity Fund. Other notable investors included Cisco Systems, Corning Inc., Bank of America Ventures, and Charles River Ventures. In February 2007, JDS Uniphase (JDSU), now Viavi Solutions, announced its definitive agreement to acquire Picolight for approximately $115 million in stock, with up to an additional $10 million in cash based on revenue performance. The acquisition was part of JDSU's strategy to strengthen its position in the datacom market through vertical integration.