POET Technologies had invited to a „Town Hall Meeting“ (THM) in Toronto, Canada, on May 17th. After acquiring DenseLight Semiconductors, the company wanted to explain how the new acquisition fitted into the company’s strategy and into the POET roadmap. One hour before launching the THM the surprise: With BB Photonics, POET Technologies is buying yet another company.
In his presentation at the Town Hall Meeting POET CEO Dr. Suresh Venkatesan not only covered the acquisitions and the technical progress in the ongoing product development, he also gave an overview of his vision of a new POET Technologies, which is based on integrated photonics and within this market will be a „one stop shop“ with a comprehensive product range.
I attended the THM and was able to speak with one or the other POET official and to meet a number of fellow shareholders. Many thanks to those who have made this possible through their support!
By its acquisitions, POET Technologies presents itself as a new and different company. The presentation by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Suresh Venkatesan gave an overview of the strategic vision of the company and the way for implementation. The new company, consisting of the old POET Technologies supplemented by the acquisitions DenseLight Semiconductors and BB Photonics, is more than just the sum of its parts, Venkatesan implied. There are strategic synergies, enabling POET to offer its customers a comprehensive range of products. Moreover Venkatesan informed about current progress in product development and demonstrated a six-inch wafer from the Wavetek production with integrated detectors and VCSELs.
In my opinion, POET Technologies all in all presented a thoughtful, solid and compelling corporate vision. The product development is on schedule.
You can find THM media on the POET Technologies website under „Presentation and Events“:
- Video recording
- Presentation „Integrated Photonics – The Next Wave in Photonics Growth“
- Media release with POET’s own summary of the town hall meeting summary
Aside from that, there are two unofficial sources:
- Video recording with reworked sound – The recording was done with a somewhat remotely located video camera. Not a particularly good idea, because this way the recorded sound is much too quiet, while background noise became foreground noise. Agoracom user Jazzpa reworked the sound, so that the quality is much better now. However, if some coughing near the microphone superimposes Suresh Venkatesan’s voice, it cannot be edit out after the event.
- The transcript – Based on the video recording, hard working, passionate POET shareholders created this transcript. This effort has been very worth the while! Transcripts of past POET events have always proved to be valuable sources of information:
For the sponsors of my trip to Toronto I will summarize the most important things here, namely the vision of the new POET Technologies and the progress in POET’s product developments. Even if the THM has already been discussed in the forums a lot, many aspects remain.
However, I do not only want to offer something to those who are tracking POET Technologies already for some time now, but also to those who are new with POET Technologies – shouldn’t be too hard, because POET Technologies essentially defines itself as a new company.
Initially these articles will be available only to those who supported my trip to Toronto financially. However, you can still join that group by transferring EUR 25 or equivalent. (Bank details see below, subject: THM; and please don’t forget your e-mail so I can send you the password.)
Let’s start the summary with what POET’s Executive Co-Chairman Ajit Manocha and former DenseLight CEO Jerry Rodrigues said. And of course with the description of the new POET Technologies given by CEO Dr. Suresh Venkatesan:
In a subsequent post I will talk about the state of the current product development and about other more technical aspects.
Cover photo: Toronto skyline. Source: Martin St-Amant, Wikimedia Commons
All other photos: Rainer Klute
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