The University of California, Santa Barbara has received a donation of intellectual property from Telcordia Technologies, Inc., the telecommunications subsidiary of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), headquartered in San Diego.
The company has donated the patents, intellectual property, and a portion of the associated equipment for its optical label switching (OLS) technology to the university, which is a leader in optical communications and optical networking research. UCSB will administer the donation for the University of California, which, as sole owner of the technology, will be able to develop and license it.
"We are extremely grateful for this donation and for the confidence it represents in our world-renowned research in optical communication and networking, as well as our recognized technology-transfer capabilities," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang.
Robert Lucky, senior vice president for applied research at Telcordia Technologies, said the company was "delighted by the complementary fit" between its OLS technology and research at the university. "We also are pleased that this technology now resides with a university widely recognized for its excellent reputation in technology commercialization."
OLS is a technique for transmitting optical packets through a network without having to make any conversion from the optical to the electronic domain. Avoiding this conversion eliminates expensive converter electronics and also reduces delays.
Telcordia decided to donate the intellectual property associated with the OLS technology because it believes additional development will be required before OLS can be commercialized, and a university provides the perfect environment in which the technology can continue to mature. Telcordia officials note that the company specializes in software development and professional services and the development of a hardware-based OLS technology is outside the scope of Telcordia's primary business.
Daniel Blumenthal, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCSB, said the technology donated by Telcordia would add an important dimension to his research and that of colleagues at UCSB and throughout the UC system who are working in this and related areas.
"Thanks to this generous donation, fiber optic communications may become faster and cheaper, and the prospects for developing and commercializing optical packet switching technologies may move closer to reality," he said. "The combination of UCSB's existing intellectual property with Telcordia's donated patents further enhances the university's position as one of the leaders in optical networking research and will assist in the future development of OLS technology."
Matthew Tirrell, dean of the College of Engineering at UCSB, said "the Telcordia donation is an innovative way for industries and research universities to collaborate to advance both knowledge and technology. These are both very important objectives for a leading college of engineering."
University officials said the OLS patents are available for licensing. (For further information, contact Oren Livne at the U.C. Office of Technology Transfer, oren.livne@ucop.edu)
About Telcordia Technologies, Inc.
Telcordia Technologies, Inc., an SAIC company, is one of the world's largest providers of operations support systems, network software and consulting and engineering services to the telecommunications industry.
A leader in the development of Next Generation Network technologies, Telcordia (www.telcordia.com) is headquartered in Morristown, N.J. with offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Central and South America.
About SAIC
Headquartered in San Diego, SAIC (www.saic.com) is the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing information technology, systems integration and eBusiness products and services to commercial and government customers.
SAIC engineers and scientists work to solve complex technical problems in telecommunications, national security, health care, transportation, energy, the environment and financial services.
With annual revenues of $5.9 billion, SAIC and its subsidiaries, including Telcordia Technologies, have 40,000 employees at offices in 150 cities worldwide.
About UCSB
The University of California, Santa Barbara (www.ucsb.edu) is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, an organization of 63 research-intensive institutions. Its faculty includes three Nobel Prize winners, 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 18 members of the National Academy of Engineering. Some 120 alumni and faculty members of the College of Engineering have started some 100 high-tech companies, half of them located on California's Central Coast.
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