Continuing to shed businesses that it no longer regards as core, British Telecommunications Plc is getting out of optoelectronic components. With its partner in the venture, E I du Pont de Nemours & Co Inc, it has agreed in principle to sell its Ipswich-based BT&D Technologies Ltd joint venture to Hewlett-Packard Co on undisclosed terms. The venture is currently owned 60% by du Pont, 40% by British Telecom, and was formed to exploit technology developed at its Martlesham Heath Laboratory. Over the next few years, fibre-optic components based on BT&D’s long- wavelength high-speed optoelectronics technology will become increasingly important, Hewlett-Packard says, adding that combined with its own technology and manufacturing and marketing expertise, these products will enable high-performance communications to be widely deployed throughout the world. BT&D employs about 455 at the Ipswich facility, which houses headquarters, semiconductor fabrication, components manufacturing, research and development, and sales and marketing operations, and 35 in the US and Japan.
