By Telecom Lead Team: Huawei has
acquired the Centre for Integrated Photonics (CIP), the UK’s photonics research
laboratory, which is owned by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).

 

The British government is selling the optical networking
research unit as part of a larger rationalization of assets.

“Following re-structuring and investment in the business
we’re very pleased to find such a prominent acquirer for the company where the
skills of the staff and the accumulated know-how are to be exploited on an
international scale,” said Will Pope, chairman and professor of EEDA.

Pope said the deal with Huawei followed a “rigorous and
competitive tender process which has generated a positive return for the
taxpayer”.

The CIP research team will be retained and will form the core of
a new Huawei UK R&D centre as a part of Huawei’s global network. Huawei
held that CIP will significantly deepen its optical research and development
capabilities.

“Currently, Huawei has six research facilities in Europe.
I’m confident that CIP’s strong research abilities and its talented staff will
further extend our European research presence to the UK,” said Victor Zhang,
CEO of Huawei UK.

Huawei has invested continually in the UK over the past ten
years. In 2011, the company announced plans to double its UK workforce to 1,000
in addition to opening a European design centre for its mobile device business
as well as an internal audit centre, both located in the UK.

Huawei will continue to invest in fiber optic R&D to ensure
that CIP remains an innovator in this important technology sector.

Recently, Huawei announced that several European operators including KPN International,
SFR, and TDC have partnered with Huawei to deploy their 100G commercial WDM
networks.

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