US MEMS Company Folds
"OMM has been highly successful in the design and manufacture of the worlds first commercial MEMS-based optical matrix switches," says Phil Chapman, President and CEO of OMM. "The company shipped products to more than 60 telecommunications equipment manufacturers and achieved numerous customer design wins. However, with the severe downturn in the worldwide telecom industry, the market timing for volume deployment of our products has been significantly impacted."
The company had been seeking additional private funding to continue, but was unable to raise the total amount deemed necessary to wait out the slump in the global telecom market.
OMM, originally known as Optical Micro-Machines, was started in California in 1997 funded by a combination of venture capital and strategic customer investments. Investors included venture capital funds and Nortel Networks, Siemens, Alcatel, Sycamore Networks, Solectron, Fairchild Semiconductor and Corvis.
