News Briefs (Jan. 3, 2006)

LED producer ACOL Technologies SA, a Geneva, Switzerland-based company with offices in Sturbridge, Mass., has announced a distribution agreement with Incomtech Ltd., a Kiev supplier of components to Ukraine telecommunications and electronics industries. ACOL's products are used in solid-state lighting applications such as rail and road traffic signals, automotive lights, commercial signs, architectural effect lighting and general illumination. . . . Finisar Corp. announced today that Frank Levinson, a founder of the company, will resign as chief technical officer and chairman of the board. He will remain on the board and will be a consultant to the company. Finisar, of Sunnyvale, Calif., is a provider of fiber optic components and subsystems and network test and monitoring systems that enable high-speed data communications for networking and storage applications. . . . Kopin Corp., a Taunton, Mass., provider of microdisplays for military, industrial and consumer applications, and ExPlay, a venture company based in Herzelia, Israel, are developing an ultrasmall projector based on a microdisplay Kopin is designing for it and on ExPlay's optical technology. The matchbox-size projection engine, targeted for portable, handheld devices such as cell phones, PDAs and PMP devices, will have target optical efficiencies nearly 10 times higher than current devices. The joint effort is funded with $2.2 million from the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation.