SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 28, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Infinera (Nasdaq:INFN) Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Dr. Dave Welch has received two industry honors, recognizing his role as a leader and key participant in Infinera's development of the world's first commercial large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
OSA Board of Directors
Dr. Welch has been elected to the board of directors of the Optical Society of America (OSA), the nonprofit association that promotes the study of optics and photonics. Dr. Welch was elected by a vote of OSA members. His three-year term begins on January 1, 2008. Representing 70,000 professionals in 134 countries encompassing private industry, the public sector, and the academic world, OSA is dedicated to promoting optics and photonics and the advanced technologies made possible by research and development in the field. In his role on the board, Dr. Welch will provide valuable contributions to help shape current efforts and build future programs and initiatives for OSA.
"The OSA Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Dr. Welch in 2008," said Elizabeth Rogan, Executive Director of OSA. "His industry experience, history and technical knowledge undoubtedly will be an asset to the board and we look forward to his contributions."
IEEE Fellow for 2008
In a separate honor, Dr. Welch was also named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). This award cited Dr. Welch's "contributions to semiconductor lasers and photonic integrated circuits." Fellowship in the IEEE is a distinction that recognizes "unusual distinction" and "important individual contributions" to engineering and can be conferred "only by invitation of the Board of Directors upon a person of outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience," according to the IEEE.
Dr. Welch has a long and distinguished record in the world of optics. As a co-founder of Infinera, Dr. Welch played a leading role in innovation in optical systems for telecom. Infinera pioneered the first large-scale PICs ever deployed in commercial telecom networks with the introduction of the Infinera DTN in 2004. With more than 60 optical devices on a pair of monolithic indium phosphide chips, Infinera's PICs mark a significant advance in optics. Photonic integration technology holds out the promise of further advances in features and functionality. The Infinera DTN optical system has pioneered Digital Optical Networks and bandwidth virtualization, techniques that make it possible to deploy optical networks quickly and flexibly by decoupling the commercial telecom services from the underlying optical infrastructure. With these competitive advantages, the Infinera DTN has risen rapidly to a leadership position in the global commercial marketplace.
From 1985 until 2001, Dr. Welch was a leading figure at SDL Inc., where he was responsible for many of the products and technical achievements that made SDL a leader in semiconductor lasers, and the world's largest manufacturer of pump lasers for optical telecom networks. SDL was acquired by JDS Uniphase in 2001, in a transaction valued at $41 billion, then the largest technology acquisition on record. Dr. Welch has more than 80 patents and more than 250 published articles to his credit.
"I'm honored by both of these distinctions from colleagues in the optics and engineering professions," said Dr. Welch. "The achievement at Infinera is the product of the hard work of a large group of dedicated and talented professionals, who stuck with us through the bleak telecom downturn years and I'm pleased that today we are all able to enjoy the recognition from our customers, who are buying and deploying Infinera systems worldwide."
About Infinera
Infinera provides Digital Optical Networking systems to telecommunications carriers worldwide. Infinera's systems are unique in their use of a breakthrough semiconductor technology: the Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC). Infinera's systems and PIC technology are designed to provide optical networks with simpler engineering and operations, faster time-to-service, and more flexible networking. For more information, please visit www.infinera.com.
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