AEPONYX to receive $1.9M SDTC grant for MEMS optical switch

AEPONYX is pleased to confirm its selection by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to receive $1.9M in the form of a non-refundable grant as announced by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, the Hon. Navdeep Bains.

The grant is expected to be used toward the development and industrialization of planar micro optical switch chips based on AEPONYX’s unique platform combining Silicon Photonics with micro-electrical-mechanical-system (MEMS). The project is budgeted at approximately $5.7M and receipt of the grant is subject to entering into a Contribution Agreement with SDTC.

“Sustainable Development Technology Canada is very proud to support the commercialization of AEPONYX’s innovative technology,” says Leah Lawrence, SDTC President and Chief Executive Officer. “This project will create green jobs for the local economy, increase efficiency in the sector and provide economic and environmental benefits for all Canadians.”

“Use of optical switching can significantly improve the energy efficiency of telecommunication and data center networks while increasing the network capacity and lowering latency” explains AEPONYX CEO Philippe Babin. “Our chips are so small that optical switching functionality can be embedded in disaggregated switching systems as well as in optical transceiver subassemblies, therefore addressing two multi-billion fast growing markets. We are grateful to SDTC for their continued support in enabling us to bring this disruptive technology to market.”

AEPONYX has developed a low-cost optical micro optical switch chip that costs one-tenth of legacy optical switches while improving switching time by a factor of one hundred. The chip will be tested by consortium members with the goal of demonstrating the required optical performance for data centre and base station applications at a lower power consumption than that of current electrical switching technology.

Source : http://www.broadwayworld.com/