Agilent to Add New Fiber-Optic Facilty in UK

IPSWICH, England – The facility containing one of Europe's largest cleanrooms is about to get a little bit bigger.

Agilent Technologies is adding a $20 million, 80,000 square foot fiber optic research and development facility to its Ipswich location. The existing 178,000 square foot optoelectronic facility boasts 44,00 square feet of manufacturing space and one of the largest cleanrooms in Europe.

Construction of the building is expected to be complete by the end of 2001. An additional 500 jobs – mostly in the area of engineering and research and development – will be created. The expansion is expected to help Agilent quadruple fiber-optic manufacturing capacity over the next two years.

Company officials say the investment is being made because of the Ipswich facility's exemplary record of inventing and development products. The Ipswich Components Operation is the source for Agilent's high-speed, medium- and long-haul laser-based fiber-optics transceivers, and pump lasers used in long-distance underwater fiber-optic cables.

–Jeff VanPelt

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