Founded by two former two former employees of RCA Labs, the principals - Greg Olsen (who became ceo) and Vladimir Ban (CTO) acquired the rights to RCA detector technology and, by careful choice, focused to a narrow product sector. specifically, light sensors for optical communications. The strategy was one of producing high quality devices at decreasingly low cost so as to enable larger system vendors to buy. Having been first to market with a specialist product the industry needed, initial price was high. However, consistent with their strategy, Epiraxx developed products and manufacuring techniqes which enabled systematic cost-reduction. The firm became very profitable very quickly and emerged as the leading worldwide supplier of opticals for fiber optic systems. Active in the SBIR program from soon after its founding in 1984 management used SBIR dollars to very good effect to implement their leading edge, lowering cost strategy. Epitaxx was in fact acquired twice. The first time in 1990 - the final year of involvement in the program - by Nippon Sheet Glass. In November 1999, NSG Group sold its subsidiary, EPITAXX, by then world-leading supplier of high speed Avalanche Photodiodes (APD), to JDS Uniphase - a firm with a strong SBIR connection inits own right. NSG continued to maintain its III-V compound semiconductor wafer growth capability after the sale.
