PLI Adds R&D, Operations Execs

CRANBURY, N.J. -- Princeton Lightwave, Inc. (PLI), a leading maker of near infrared high-power lasers and application specific detectors for communications, instrumentation and defense applications, announced the appointment of three senior executives in R&D and Operations.

Alka Swanson was appointed Executive Vice President of the Company in charge of Sales, Marketing & Business Development. Most recently she was, like the other new executives at the EPITAXX division of JDS Uniphase. There, she was the General Manager and she ran a high volume operations dedicated to detectors and receiver modules for telecommunications. At PLI she is responsible for the overall business strategy and ties together business and operational activities. Alka has a Ph.D. in Physics from Boston University.

Sabbir Rangwala is the new Vice President of Products and Operations. He has previously managed packaging operations for active devices (lasers, detectors, etc.). At PLI, he will manage all facets of product realization and operations. Sabbir has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Mark Itzler joined as Chief Technical Officer. He has managed the development of multiple advanced optical devices, including a 10 Gb Avalanche Photodiode, a 40 Gb PIN diode. He has managed a large-scale InP foundry facility and has been responsible for technology evaluation for active optical devices. At PLI, Mark will focus on the management of semiconductor device design and of foundry services. Mark has a Ph.D. in Physics from University of Pennsylvania.

"We have brought together a very experienced team,” says Yves Dzialowski, CEO of Princeton Lightwave. "We have worked together in a small company and grew it to a very large scale business based on commitment to offer the best performance to our customers.

Similarly, we have at PLI an outstanding set of technological resources in high power lasers, in detectors and in module and sub-system integration. This will allow us to address new applications for optical systems in telecom and other fields like instrumentation and defense.”

Princeton Lightwave Inc.