kSARIA Taps Thomas Koch, Bell Labs & IEEE Fellow, for Technical Advisory Board

Business Wire, May 19, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 2003

kSARIA, the first and only fully automated, on-demand manufacturer of custom optical fiber pigtails and assemblies, today announced that Thomas Koch, PhD. has joined its Technical Advisory Board (TAB). Dr. Koch is currently the Director for the Center for Optical Technologies and Professor of Electrical Engineering at Lehigh University, PA. He has over 25 years of optoelectronics related experience, and is a Bell Laboratories Fellow as well as a Fellow of both OSA and IEEE. Prior to joining Lehigh University, Dr. Koch was Vice President, Technology Platforms for Agere Systems where he managed the core optoelectronics R&D resources during the spinout from Lucent. Dr. Koch transitioned to this roll after being the Chief Technology Officer, Optoelectronics Products, where he led Lucent Technology's Bell Laboratories research in semiconductor photonics. He has earned an A.B. degree, Magna Cum Laude, in Physics from Princeton University and a PhD. in Applied Physics from California Institute of Technology. Dr. Koch holds 35 patents, has authored over 130 journal papers, 150 conference presentations and participated in the creation of 5 books.

"The fast pace of change in optoelectronics demands kSARIA strategically look ahead in order to have the right technology and products to meet the needs of our customers," states Sebastian J. Sicari, kSARIA's President & CEO. "We are very pleased and fortunate to have Dr. Koch join our team. His demonstrated industry experience assists kSARIA in continuously evolving to meet these challenges."

"I'm very excited about joining kSARIA's team as a TAB member," confirmed Thomas Koch, PhD. "In order to drive costs down, it is important for optical component developers to engineer around common, scalable, high-quality building blocks. I think kSARIA's unique automated manufacturing solutions will become increasingly crucial as the industry advances."

Dr. Koch joins Robert E. Hannemann, PhD. and David Krohn, PhD. on kSARIA's Technical Advisory Board. Please visit kSARIA's website (www.ksaria.com) for further details on these TAB members.

About kSARIA

kSARIA is the only on-demand manufacturer of custom optical fiber pigtails and assemblies. kSARIA produces these advanced optical fiber assemblies using internally developed, patented end-to-end in-line automation. Sophisticated tooling and one-up manufacturing processes enables both high-volume and high-mix/low-volume products (pigtails, fiber stubs, patch cords, connectorization, military, aerospace, industrial & medical optical fiber sub-assemblies) delivered at compelling prices far below established price points. With automation quality meeting or exceeding industry standards and ultra-fast 48-hour turnaround, kSARIA's unique breakthrough automation technology enables customers to get "off-shore pricing with domestic convenience" on their custom designs.