Polatis to Put Production Plant in Poland

With demand for its products expected to triple this year, Billerica, Mass.-based optical switch maker Polatis Inc. today announced it will open a new production facility in Poland by early fall 2007. The Poland facility will manufacture standard products for the telecommunications and instrumentation markets, while its plants in Cambridge (England) and Boston will focus on specialized defense products and new technology development, the company said. The Poland site will feature state-of-the-art manufacturing, test and qualification capabilities, and will eventually employ 100, Polatis said. The new production team recently completed a year's training at the company's Cambridge location. "We selected Poland as an ideal location for expansion due to its combination of a highly talented workforce and excellent cost advantages. The new facility will enable us to ramp-up production and scale our operations to meet both near-term customer needs, and large volume programs where we are in trials now, such as those in FTTH, and backbone network operations," said Dave Lewis, CEO of Polatis. The company also announced it will demonstrate the next generation of its optical switch technology next week at NXTcomm, Chicago, a telecom industry trade show.