FIRECOMMS
ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW CHIEF OF OPERATIONS OFFICER
Cork, Ireland — June
12, 2006 — Firecomms Ltd., a leading compound
semiconductor company that develops high-speed light sources
in visible range wavelengths, today announced the appointment
of industry veteran Dr. Torsten Wipiejewski as chief operations
officer. Thomas Moriarty, who was acting COO, will focus
his efforts on new product development in his role as chief
engineer.
In his new role, Dr. Wipiejewski will create an
effective execution strategy for Firecomms, build out the
team, and drive volume mass production of VCSEL chips and
fiber optic transceivers. The increase in production capacity
and manufacturing capability follows the latest round of
funding to meet customer demands.
Dr. Wipiejewski was most
recently vice president and R&D director of Material
and Packaging Technologies Group at ASTRI in Hong Kong
where he led the development of ultra low-cost photonic
components for information transmission and smart optical
sensors. Previously, he managed the market introduction
of two tunable laser product lines as director of advanced
technology and program manager at Agility Communications
in California. He also was general manager of the Optoelectronic
Components Group of Infineon Fiber Optics in Munich, Germany.
His responsibility included R&D and production of vertical-cavity
surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and edge emitting lasers.
Dr.
Wipiejewski received a Ph.D. summa cum laude for his work
on low threshold, tunable VCSELs from the University of
Ulm, Germany, and a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from
the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. He spent
two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University
of California, Santa Barbara and at the University of Ulm.
Dr.
Wipiejewski was elected to the ECTC Executive Committee
in 2004. He is the Opto- Committee chair of ESTC, served
as program chair of the 2005 POF Conference, and has been
committee member of SPIE Photonics West and EPTC for many
years. Dr. Wipiejewski chaired the Optoelectronics Chip-Level
Roadmap development for the U.S.- based National Electronics
Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) in 2004.
Dr. Wipiejewski
is a senior member of IEEE LEOS (Laser & Electro-Optics
Society) and CPMT (Components, Packaging and Manufacturing
Technology Society) and has authored or co-authored more
than 120 publications and over 30 patents. He was honored
with Agility’s "Patent Award" in
2001 and 2002, Infineon’s "Inventor of the Year
Award" in 1999, the "Project Innovations Award" of
the Siemens Semiconductor Group (now Infineon) in 1999,
and the "Best Ph.D. Thesis Award" in 1994.
"With
extensive experience in high-volume compound semiconductor
manufacturing, Dr. Wipiejewski brings a deep understanding
of back-end processes for Firecomms’ device level
and transceiver level mass production," says Firecomms
CEO Declan O’Mahoney. "His experience in high-volume
environments and his knowledge of high-end devices for
automotive networks are invaluable to this company."
Thomas
Moriarty, Firecomms’ co-founder and chief engineer
adds, "Having
respected Dr. Wipiejewski’s work for several years,
I recognize his decision to join our team as a great vote
of confidence in our technology and customer relationships."
About
Firecomms Ltd.
Firecomms, a compound semiconductor company based in Ireland,
develops visible light sources and sensors that light the
way for next-generation consumer devices, automotive and
home networks, and medical equipment. These devices provide
the groundwork that will revolutionize optical data communications
for small area networks, such as in-car networks and home
networks.
Firecomms’ unique technology provides its key customers
with a major competitive advantage in high-volume consumer
electronics, including handheld devices, cell phones, personal
computers and laptops. This same technology also is the
foundation for critical solutions in the home networking
and automotive markets.
Additional
information about Firecomms is available at www.firecomms.com.
Further
Information:
Rene' Williams
Firecomms Ltd.
Tel. 949.360.7770
rene@firecomms.com |