January 9, 2004

                                     Competing with Sony     in Japan         

         BLI received a high-quantity purchase order for semi-conductor lasers from a major Japanese manufacturer of commercial printing equipment.

         The product is a high-power 808nm laser with special optical characteristics.  High-power multi-mode semi-conductor lasers produce an electromagnetic beam of certain size (“stripe”).  The stripe can be, for instance, one (slow-axis) by a hundred microns (fast-axis).  The output energy has a certain distribution within the angles of fast and slow axes.  For printing applications, it is very important to have most of the power concentrated in a small portion of the total beam angle in the slow-axis.  In addition to lifetime, the beam power distribution is of extreme importance for printing equipment manufacturing. The exact specifications are proprietary to BLI and its customers.

         Our main competitor for this application in Japan is Sony.  BLI competes with Sony successfully, thus refuting the conventional wisdom that efficient and profitable manufacturing in the US is impossible.

         Prior to receiving this new order, BLI’s facility in   Binghamton was ISO 2000:9001 qualified.  The product   itself was tested and qualified during thousands of hours of  operation at BLI and at customer premises, part of that was done at high temperature.

         BLI is vertically integrated, semi-conductor laser manufacturer in wavelengths of 630 to 2000 nm.  In addition to making lasers, being a successor to the Polaroid Laser Division, BLI develops and manufactures sub-Miliradian precision optics systems.          The main markets of the company are defense and printing.

                                                                                                      Made in   USA

(607) 773-0000   info@bostonlaserinc.com