A new dimension for JDSU

<p>When moviegoers enter the strange, three-dimensional world of “Avatar,” they're seeing visual effects created in Santa Rosa by JDSU, the world's largest maker of optical coating technology. </p><p>JDSU provides 3-D glasses and projection filters that make “Avatar” images appear to leap off the screen. JDSU's technology is employed in Dolby Laboratories' 3-D Digital Cinema, one of three systems that exhibitors are using to show super-realistic 3-D films.</p><p>“We think it's the best one available,” said Dan Tocchini, CEO of SR Entertainment Group, which owns 14 multiplex theaters stretching from Sonoma County to Laughlin, Nev., and uses the technology at its Roxy and Airport cinemas in Santa Rosa. </p><p>The 3-D viewing experience helped “Avatar” bring in $1 billion at the box office in less than three weeks — on track to become the second-highest grossing film in history. </p><p>“It's the wave of the future,” said Tocchini, who's been in the theater business for 50 years.</p><div id="flashbanner">Adobe Flash Player seems to be missing..</div> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.jdsu.tv/swfobject.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> var so = new SWFObject('http://www.jdsu.tv/jdsuplayer.swf','mpl','470','301','9'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('flashvars','source=http://www.jdsu.tv/video/jdsudolby.flv&ConfigFile=http://www.jdsu.tv/config.xml'); so.addParam('wmode','transparent'); so.write('flashbanner'); </script><p>Studios plan to release 18 movies in 3-D this year, Tocchini said. Besides driving traffic, 3-D showings command a $3 premium on ticket prices, he said. </p><p>The 3-D craze also is helping JDSU's bottom line. The company's stock is up 30 percent in the past three months, closing Wednesday at $8.92 on the Nasdaq exchange. </p><p>JDSU won't disclose its 3-D revenues, but the company's Santa Rosa-based Advanced Optical Technologies business reported $54 million in sales last quarter, up 7 percent from the prior period. </p><p>JDSU technology has been in 3-D movies since Disney's “Chicken Little” in 2005, but the process was refined for “Titanic” director James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar.” </p><p>In “Avatar,” the blue-skinned natives of the moon Pandora resist a mining corporation that threatens to destroy their world. </p><p>“Dolby kept pushing for a more immersive experience,” said Chris Vomvolakis, a marketing specialist for JDSU. </p><p>The Dolby system is the best one for seeing 3-D movies, said Markus Bilger, a JDSU custom optics manager.</p><p>“The viewing experience is better than the competition,” he said. “They don't give quite the contrast and color balance you get with Dolby.” </p><p>JDSU technicians in Santa Rosa use vacuum coating machines to deposit multiple layers of thin film on the lenses used in Dolby's 3-D glasses. The right and left lenses let in different wavelengths of light. </p><p>JDSU also makes coated filter wheels for Dolby's digital film projectors. The fast-spinning wheel alternates between two sets of colors, switching images between a viewer's right and left eye about six times for each frame of film. </p><p>To a moviegoer wearing 3-D glasses, the different images merge seamlessly to create the illusion of depth.</p><p>“Your brain recognizes it as one picture,” Bilger said. “It's all trickery.” </p><p>Another Santa Rosa company assembles the Dolby glasses for JDSU. Dolby also uses other suppliers for the 3-D glasses, but is enthusiastic about JDSU's technology.</p><p>“JDSU optical coating technology helps us transport the picture off the screen with dramatic realism,” said John Carey, a Dolby vice president. </p><p>Unlike some other 3-D glasses, the Dolby versions are designed to be washed and reused, eliminating waste, Bilger said.</p><p>“We believe this solution has stronger legs,” he said. </p><p>The Dolby-branded glasses cost about $28 each. A complete Dolby digital 3-D system runs $70,000 to $100,000. </p><p>JDSU has produced hundreds of thousands of the units since 2005, and 3-D is still in its infancy, Bilger said.</p><p>“Someday all major releases will be in 3-D,” he said. “We believe the market will continue to grow.” </p><p>JDSU isn't working yet on a 3-D system being developed for television, but that's a potential new market, he said.</p><p>The company's optical coatings also are used for lighting at concerts, night vision goggles for the military, protective coatings for spacecraft and on laptop computers and TVs to prevent glare. </p><p>Milpitas-based JDSU acquired the Santa Rosa optical business in 2000 from Optical Coating Laboratory, which pioneered thin-film coating technology in the late 1940s. JDSU, formerly called JDS Uniphase, has about 540 employees in Santa Rosa.</p>