While digging deep to understand the photonics market in India and the companies associated with the industry, I came across Eagle Photonics in Bangalore, doing a great job in fiber optics! No doubt, the consumer market for photonics is booming in India with high demand for LCDs, LEDs, SLDs, plasma screens and CCFLs. However, the photonics industry per se is yet to pick up. However, companies like Eagle Photonics are surely adding immense value to the industry! Established 2002, Eagle Photonics is an organization doing trading, consultancy and training in fiber optics. Witnessing a steady growth since inception, the company claims to be the only one in India that provides practical training in fiber optics, PDH/SDH and DWDM. (Some details about this training, in case readers are interested, are mentioned further down) Eagle Photonics provides services to basic telecom operators, users of OFC networks, national long distance (NLD) service providers and other OFC network users. It also provides solutions to global companies that supply and integrate products using fibre optics. While talking to Hitesh Mehta, chief technical officer, Eagle Photonics, about the firm's various activities, it surfaced that a small team of 60 members in this company is working with the aim of reaching new heights in the areas of services, training, consultancy and distribution of products in fiber optics. As regards fiber optics trading, Mehta says: “We deal with cables and end-to-end equipments for R&D labs in the country. Also, we are fulfilling the requirements of components for experiments and various projects taken up by the photonics faculty at the prestigious Raman Research Institute in Bangalore.” Further, Eagle Photonics has been offering training to industrial and field personnel, and fresh engineers in the areas of fiber optics, electro-optic devices and optical networking systems. It also offers consultancy in fiber optics and measurement service, including STM, DWDM installation, commissioning and testing. Expressing his views about the Indian photonics industry, Mehta says: “The photonics market is yet to catch up in its true sense in India. There is a market for consumer goods, medical lasers and industrial applications. However, Indians still prefer products from overseas. The market here will pick up in a big way only when people start buying indigenous products.” Eagle Photonics also promotes network equipment of TUOLIMA, DWDM products of Santec, and optical devices and cable network components from Fujikura Japan and Proximion Sweden. Pradeep