Qioptiq completes integration of LINOS, sees strength in OPTATEC

The companies of the LINOS Group will change their name to Qioptiq (Paris, France) as of July 1, 2010. LINOS GmbH (formerly LINOS AG) will then be called Qioptiq Holding GmbH, while the operating company LINOS Photonics GmbH & Co. KG will operate under the name of Qioptiq Photonics GmbH & Co. KG from that date. As such, LINOS, the globally active manufacturer of complex optical systems, is completing its integration in the Qioptiq Group, which started with the take-over in 2006.

The companies have already been jointly marketing their products since 2007. The brand appearance of Qioptiq was updated at the start of this year and standardized for all locations of the Group and all 2,300 employees. In July 2010, the new website will also go online: www.qioptiq.com.

"With its rebranding, our group of companies is strengthening its presence compared to its international competitors and is thereby promoting joint sales activities," says Volker Brockmeyer, LINOS Managing Director, and as Executive Vice President head of the Photonic Systems Division of the Qioptiq Group: "From the clear brand appearance, we hope that the comprehensive technical know-how and range of services from Qioptiq will become even more visible for our customers." The change of name will not result in any other changes for LINOS customers and business partners; all contacts will remain the same. There will also be no changes for employees at the Göttingen, Feldkirchen (Munich) and Regen sites.

Part of the Photonic Systems Division
LINOS AG was established in 1996 as a management buy-out from the Göttingen-based precision optics company Spindler & Hoyer. Over the following years, the company acquired further manufacturers of fine optics components: Steeg & Reuter Präzisionsoptik and Franke Optik Vertriebsgesellschaft in Giessen, Gsänger Optoelektronik GmbH in Planegg as well as Rodenstock Präzisionsoptik in Munich. In September 2000, LINOS went public. After six years in "the new market" and in the "prime standard" of the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt/Main, the Qioptiq Group (via Optco Akquisitions GmbH) made a takeover bid which was completed in October 2006. In July 2009, the LINOS share was removed from trading, and the company was converted into a limited liability company.

The existing LINOS companies belong to the Photonic Systems Division (PSD) of Qioptiq - one of the Group's three divisions. As of the end of 2009, it employed a workforce of 869 at its sites in Göttingen, Feldkirchen (Munich), Regen, Asslar, Hamble (UK) and Rochester (NY, USA). The Photonic Systems Division achieved revenues of some 40 percent of Qioptiq's total revenues in 2009.

OPTATEC 2010 raises confidence
OPTATEC 2010 was very positive for Qioptiq. More than 500 exhibitors from 31 countries presented their products last week in Frankfurt at the international specialist event for optical technologies, components, systems and production.

Visitors from different sectors obtained information at the Qioptiq booth on precision optics, opto-mechanics and complex optical systems. Numerous intensive and specific meetings were held. In addition to new products, further developments of tried and tested standard products and system solutions, the newly designed LINOS Catalog 2010/2011 was the focus of attention.

The numerous new products attracted great interest, such as the world's smallest head-up display, the new matrix tension system, focusing lenses on the basis of liquids or polymers, optically contacted polarising beam splitter cubes, hyperchromats with excellent monochromatic mapping performance as well as new adjustment elements from the LINOS microbench system with high-precision micrometer screws.

OPTATEC confirmed the trend of optical technology as the innovation driver for more industrial areas - in particular medical & life sciences, research and development and industrial manufacturing: areas to which Qioptiq has an optimum orientation.

Posted by Vision Systems Design