Corning Selected as Photonics Research Partner

British Telecommunications PLC
14 February 2000



   BT SELECTS CORNING AS PHOTONICS RESEARCH PARTNER
                              
BT today announced that it has selected Corning Inc., the

provider of advanced optical and photonic products for

telecommunications and other high technology industries, to

exploit its intellectual property portfolio in photonics

research.

     The agreement will enable BT to build on its world-

leading know-how in the field by bringing photonics

technology into the commercial marketplace through

manufactured products from Corning.

     BT is licensing its photonics technology and

transferring its Photonics Technology Research Centre

(PTRC) to Corning. All 43 employees at the photonics centre

are voluntarily transferring their employment to Corning,

which will also lease the PTRC building at BT's Adastral Park

Advanced Communications Technology Centre at Martlesham, as

part of the £39 million deal.

     Chris Earnshaw, BT group engineering director and

chief technology officer, said: 'As one of the largest

patent holders in the world, BT is keen to maximise the

returns from its investments in research and development.

Much of our research and development work underpins the

modern communications infrastructure, and this agreement

unlocks the hidden value of an important part of our rich

patent library.

     'We are delighted to be welcoming Corning, a world

leader in optical technology, to work alongside BT at

Adastral Park. Corning is ideally placed to take this

important new BT-developed technology forward into

commercially-available forms.'

     The acquisition of the photonics centre by Corning is

the latest step in the company's global strategy of becoming

a world-leading 'optical layer' company - an integrated

supplier of a broad range of fibre optic and opto-electronic

products enabling the development and eventual deployment of

the all optical network.

     Charles Deneka, Corning's chief technology officer and

executive vice president for science and technology, said:

'The integration of the PTRC into Corning's already extensive

R&D efforts is expected to lead to the commercialisation of

new products in the near-term.  One of the primary focus

areas of the PTRC  is ultrafast photonic networking, so there

is a clear fit between the two organisations in the areas of

high-speed system research, digital processing, and semi-

conductor device processing and design.

     'Several other areas of work that the centre is involved

in, such as planar devices, fibre gratings, amplifier

materials, speciality fibres and low cost packaging offer

excellent opportunities for Corning to use the PTRC to

advantage our current businesses, as well as augment our

internal product development efforts.'