VSK Photonics Inc., a startup designer of optical networking components, has moved from Irvine to a new facility in Lake Forest where it plans to make the super-secret gear the 10-month-old company has kept under wraps so far.
The Lake Forest plant should be ready to start producing components in the next six months, VSK executives said. Beyond that, though, the company isn’t offering up much about its plans.
“We have now reached the next stage of corporate maturity,” Chief Executive Don Ackley said in a statement.
VSK, which has received $18 million in venture funding so far, financed the new plant through a $6 million lease line with Greenbrae-based Lighthouse Capital Partners. VSK indicated it could seek additional funding, but declined further comment.
Along with the financing deal, VSK appointed John Creelman, a former executive at Copper Mountain Networks Inc., as its new chief financial officer. Creelman was chief financial officer at Palo Alto-based Cooper Mountain until March when he resigned amid a restructuring at the maker of digital subscriber line products.
VSK is perhaps Orange County’s most secretive startup. The company rarely returns phone calls from the media. Founder Ackley has worked at Motorola Inc.’s operation in Tempe, Ariz., and at Epitaxx Inc., which was acquired by JDS Uniphase Corp.
But one thing is clear: the company is betting that the appetite for faster access to data will drive adoption of its components.
And VSK has a couple of key names in its investor lineup. In April, the company received a big vote of support with $18 million in financing from Intel Corp.’s venture arm and Morgenthaler Ventures of Menlo Park.
“We like broadband getting stuff to homes more quickly,” said Intel spokesman Robert Manetta earlier this year. “They have technology to do that, so we’re definitely interested in them.”
What is known about VSK is that its products are set to use a material called indium phosphide as a conducting agent. The design is more efficient, according to the company. VSK’s investors said they like the way the company’s products slash the cost of running chips.
“We believe VSK has the right approach to the market today,products that increase performance and reliability of optical networks while dramatically decreasing cost,” said Drew Lanza, a partner at Morgenthaler Ventures. “The innovative technologies that VSK is developing will bring these benefits to the emerging 40-gigabit-per-second market.”
But VSK isn’t the only company going after these special modules. TRW Inc.’s Redondo Beach-based offshoot Velocium plans to make indium phosphide components for fiber-optic and wireless networks. Velocium has invested $70 million this year to expand its manufacturing. The company is the result of a $300 million investment by TRW in developing fiber-optic products.
Like VSK, the TRW unit plans to focus on the market for components that provide greater bandwidth.
Velocium claims its components provide four times the capacity of current components while using half the power.
If hiring intentions reveal anything about VSK’s plans, the company may be getting fairly close to finding customers for its components.
According to a job listing, VSK is looking for a vice president of business development for “developing strategic relationships with systems customers in the optical networking space” and has a “strong background in strategic planning.” n
