Opnext completes StrataLight acquisition, names new management

Jan. 12, 2009

JANUARY 12, 2009 -- Opnext has also announced that Harry Bosco will retire as CEO and president effective April 1, 2009, and assume the role of chairman of Opnext's Board. Gilles Bouchard, currently chief operating officer of Opnext, will replace Bosco as president and CEO of the company.

JANUARY 12, 2009 -- Opnext Inc. (search for Opnext) completed its acquisition of privately held StrataLight Communications Inc. (search for StrataLight Communications) after the close of business on January 9, 2009.

"We are pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of StrataLight Communications," reports Harry Bosco, president and CEO of Opnext. "The addition of StrataLight's 40G and 100G products, along with their expertise in subsystem design, positions Opnext as a leader in 40G solutions and will enhance our portfolio of 100G products in the future. StrataLight is a leader in providing 40G optical subsystems to optical equipment manufacturers and has invaluable experience in optimizing transmission performance for long haul applications," he notes.

"I am also pleased to welcome Shri Dodani, president and CEO of StrataLight, to the Opnext leadership team," Bosco continues. "Since we entered into the merger agreement on July 9, Shri has collaborated with Gilles Bouchard, COO of Opnext, on integration planning efforts."

"The combination of StrataLight and Opnext is a natural fit as we solidify our leadership position in 40G to address our customer needs for greater bandwidth," adds Dodani. "We look forward to leveraging this combination to address the 100G frontier and maintain our leadership position at higher network speeds."

Effective immediately, Charles J. Abbe and Phil Otto have joined the Opnext Board as Directors. Abbe retired as president and chief operating officer and a director of JDS Uniphase Corporation in 2001. Otto is the CEO and director of
Schilling Robotics Inc. and was a director of StrataLight.

Opnext also announced that Harry Bosco will retire as CEO and president effective April 1, 2009, and assume the role of chairman of Opnext's Board. Gilles Bouchard, currently chief operating officer of Opnext, will replace Bosco as president and CEO of Opnext.

"Gilles has done a remarkable job running our business operations since he joined Opnext in November of 2007," asserts Bosco. "His prior experience at Hewlett Packard as EVP of operations and managing fast-growing, successful businesses has been very beneficial as we position the company for the future."

"2009 will be a year of change for Opnext, organizationally and operationally," reports Bouchard. "We are excited about the opportunities the combination of Opnext and StrataLight will have in addressing the high-speed networking needs of 40G and beyond. Optical network design complexity increases significantly as we move to higher speeds, and the marriage of optical device and module technology with subsystems expertise will help our customers optimize their future network designs for superior performance and cost," he contends. "With much planning behind us, we look forward to a smooth and swift integration, and we will provide more information during our third quarter earnings call in early
February."

Under terms of the acquisition agreement, which were previously announced on July 9, 2008, Opnext has acquired all the capital stock of StrataLight. StrataLight stockholders received 26,545,455 shares of Opnext common stock and $30 million in cash. The former StrataLight shareholders own approximately 29% of the outstanding capital stock of Opnext.

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