TeraXion, a developer of advanced optical components for high-speed communications networks, announced it has been awarded a contract to design and deliver an automated fiber grating development system for the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute of Calcutta, India. The automated system will be used to prototype advanced fiber optic grating designs in support of the institute's research in novel telecommunication and sensing components. Fiber gratings are used in photonics applications including fiber optic communication, lasers, amplifiers and physical parameter sensing. . . . Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) business activity picked up considerably in the fourth quarter of 2003 and has remained strong through the first half of 2004, according to "Step-by-Step to Success: 2004 MEMS Industry Overview and Forecast," a new report available for purchase from In-Stat/MDR. Topics include venture funding, acquisitions, closures, emerging business models and an update on the MEMS fab business. The report also provides lists of the devices being commercialized and the companies supplying them, MEMS suppliers rankings and forecasts for MEMS devices and markets are through 2008. For more information, visit: www.instat.com