Avanex to Acquire Northrup Grumman Subsidiary Assets
July 3, 2007

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Avanex Corporation (NASDAQ:AVNX), a pioneer of intelligent photonic solutions that enable next-generation optical networks, today announced that it has acquired the assets relating to the MSA 300-pin transponder and XFP transceiver businesses of the Commercial Communication Products Division (CCPD) of Essex Corporation, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.

Located in Melbourne, Fla., CCPD is a design team focused on developing pluggable transceivers and tunable transponders. The acquisition accelerates Avanex's time-to-market in expanding its presence in the growing transmission market. According to a recent study by Ovum RHK, the telecom transmission module market as a whole is estimated to be approximately $1.0 billion by the year 2009.

Avanex expects to have the acquired products integrated into its product portfolio and ready for general availability by the end of this calendar year.

"This acquisition reinforces our commitment to investing in key telecommunication optical technologies to provide our telecom customers with compelling and differentiated solutions," said Jo Major, president, chairman and CEO of Avanex. "We are excited to add this design team to our expanding transmission business."