A 60-day comment period beginning today is the photonics industry’s opportunity to provide vital input on proposed regulations controlling export of important technologies under Category XII of the U.S. Munitions List, which governs commodities covered by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The proposal has broad implications for the U.S. optics and photonics industry both...Continue Reading

A Future Beyond Film, Transformation in the Digital Age A lot of rehashing this old story, but with a few updates.  We have more jobs in Rochester now than when Kodak was at full employment. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/bcvideo/1.0/iframe/embed.html?videoId=100000003538108 Read More Read Even More…Continue Reading

Feb. 6, 2015 — Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) and Exelis, Inc. (NYSE:XLS) today announced a definitive agreement under which Harris will acquire Exelis in a cash and stock transaction valued at $23.75 per share, or an approximately $4.75 billion enterprise value. The agreement has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. The...Continue Reading

Slaughter Has Spearheaded Effort to Secure Transformational Federal Investment Since 2012 Optics and Photonics Support 17,000 Jobs in the Rochester Region ROCHESTER, NY – Today, New York’s Rochester-led consortium was named one of three finalists in the country to compete for a significant federal investment in the region’s signature photonics industry, an initiative that Congresswoman...Continue Reading

From the Rochester Business Journal at   http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=210763 The competition that will award more than $200 million to create a manufacturing institute focused on the photonics industry will be launched soon, and Rochester is a prime candidate, officials announced Friday. The Department of Defense will lead the competition designed to establish a photonics hub, Sen Charles...Continue Reading

Someday your smartphone might be able to help you in a new way when you’re traveling: by telling you whether the water is safe to drink. Although a water app isn’t close yet, researchers at Corning and elsewhere recently discovered that they could use Gorilla Glass, the toughened glass made by Corning that’s commonly used...Continue Reading

Increased sales in 2014 has Optimax Systems Inc. looking to hire in the new year. While increasing the size of its Ontario, NY facility to 60,000 square feet over the last several years,  the company has also steadily increased the size of its workforce. That trend will continue in 2015 as Optimax looks to hire  about...Continue Reading

The quality management system for Semrock Inc.’s  Rochester facility is newly certified as compliant to the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Business standards company BSI issued the certification to the manufacturer of high-volume optical filters for the biotech and instrumentation industries. “This is an important step that demonstrates Semrock’s continuing commitment to customers in the medical point of care market,”...Continue Reading

The Rochester region may be one step closer to its future as a National Manufacturing Institute centering on optics and photonics with the passage of the $1.1 trillion federal budget over the weekend. Among the appropriations, $300 million has been designated under the Revitalize American Manufacturing Innovation Act (RAMI) to establish up to 15 centers for manufacturing...Continue Reading

The Finger Lakes Regional Center for Advanced Optics Manufacturing was awarded $675,000 today in the New York State Regional Economic Development Competition. Kudos to the FLREDC Optics & Photonics Committee and its chairmen, Jim Sydor of Sydor Optics and Jay Eastman of Optel for their leadership. The money will be used to purchase two pieces...Continue Reading