I invite everyone to do a search on the Form 20-F for "infrared sensor". (open document and hit 'ctrl-f', enter term in search field on top right)
You should get 10 hits.
Read through the context everywhere those words appear and you get an interesting perspective of past and future plans.
Also read through this section from page 25 and 26 again. I've put some sections that stood out to me in bold and italics.
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"Marketing Plan
Military Segment
Our initial fundamental business strategy is to continue our directed focus on the military market through licensing arrangements with BAE and others and by pursuing projects which meet the POET platform product design goals of the transition process, which may lead to the subsequent volume production and license revenue generation. Our intent is also to foster prime contractor involvement that will lead to either a licensing or other form of partnership relationship based on long term demand for the POET platform, and to develop that demand into a potential partner’s strategic plans for meeting government requirements. Training, supporting and energizing the prime contractor sales teams will be a key ingredient to POET’s success in generating military and agency revenue.
Commercial Segment
Our commercial sales and marketing activity will be based on direct contact with target corporations by senior management or industry consultants hired by the Company. Such contact will focus on developing successful relationships within the product areas. We know from our past experience in the solar industry that relationship leveraging is required to first gain entrance and then acceptance of a new company with new technology. Marketing and product development activity is expected to continue throughout the POET development and transition process in order to anticipate and adapt commercially directed devices, as well as commercial applications discovered going forward, during the development phase, thus offering well-designed, well-supported, market-focused products capitalizing on the potential advantages of POET.
The release of test or prototype devices to both market segments for testing and acceptance of the POET process is important to the Company’s marketing plan. The availability of prototypes will be necessary to solicit early design wins with the potential to lead to volume production at such time as the Company can commence the POET transition. Currently, a prototype infrared sensor is in development for the AFRL which the Company believes, when completed, can be adapted for commercial prototype use.
The Company believes that the most expedient way to scale its sales efforts in both the military and commercial market segments will be to work with and through the marketing, sales and engineering teams of those firms who are respected, proven product and solution providers, already holding a significant market share within their industry.
Commercialization
The Company will focus first on the simplest products that can make its POET process stand out. To achieve this, the Company anticipates teaming with partners to produce and deliver POET driven devices into the military market segment in order to obtain high visibility quickly and to achieve the fast sales ramp-up in the commercial segment.
First Phase: Initial Prototypes and Initial Production
Initial prototype devices meeting commercial requirements are anticipated to be produced in sufficient quantities during the POET transition program utilizing the BAE fabrication facility. Prototypes such as the infrared sensor now in development with BAE for military testing and use are targeted to be used to introduce the POET platform process to the marketplace and to enable the Company to gain access to potential customers and seek early commercial design wins. Having a third party manufacture infrared sensors will help serve to validate POET and should provide momentum to seek design wins.
Second Phase: Production
The Company’s manufacturing model is to be fabless, meaning that we will partner with third party semiconductor fabrication facilities to produce the POET IC devices. As vertical market partnerships may be established, we anticipate those partnerships would seek to either utilize the BAE facility or another facility of their choosing to meet their volume fabrication needs, leveraging off of the prototypes expected to be manufactured at the BAE facility. To the extent that POET is successfully introduced and demand dictates, the Company intends to continue to improve on its ability to provide cost effective product by utilizing well known, commercial market-focused fabrication facilities worldwide.
The manufactured cost of a POET component will include the cost of manufacturing the die, plus the cost of packaging the die. Depending upon the type of component manufactured, the physical dimensions of the die will vary, as will the packaging cost.
Manufacturing
The Company has contracted with BAE for the transition phase of its POET platform development from the POET laboratory on the campus of the University of Connecticut. If successfully completed, the Company expects to partner with BAE for the continued and
on-going manufacture of wafers to meet the Company’s initial production requirements. The Company does not currently have a manufacturing agreement in place with BAE, but would seek to establish such agreements upon a successful transition of the POET process to production capability
BAE’s III-V GaAs fabrication facility is ISO 9001/14001 certified, military specification certified and can produce radiation hard devices. BAE’s state of the art facility houses two 3” wafer diameter production lines and two 6” wafer diameter production lines within 14,000 sq. ft. and a wafer test area covering 16,000 sq. ft. The facility is vibration isolated and environmentally controlled for sub-micron device development and manufacture. We believe that there is substantial capacity available to us for implementation of our development and to-market plans, and that BAE would be receptive to making such capacity available to us. Currently, a staff of over 150 engineers is devoted to design and development with another 70 devoted to foundry operations and testing."
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So my take on the plans going forward is to finish the infrared sensor being developed at BAE and go into production as soon as possible as that seems to be the product that is closest to completion and already has a waiting customer base.(See page 24 but I'll quote it here)
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"After testing, the Air Force Commercialization Pilot Program (“CPP”) selected POET’s ultraviolet/infrared/visible imaging technology project as their candidate for an AFRL grant to fund the POET transition program and Phase III effort. Utilizing AFRL funding, the Company and BAE have entered into a transition program to jointly produce the POET platform and take it to production. Furthermore, BAE and other military prime contractors have expressed interest in using the POET platform in systems/subsystems for their Department of Defense customers. Additionally, a qualifier for receiving CPP funding is the acknowledgement of the firm’s willingness to commercialize a portion of the funded technology, thus providing commercial customers access to packaged parts, enabling the technology to be adopted for commercial and military systems."
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See page 62:
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"2.On May 21, 2008, the Company entered into an Agreement with BAE Systems Information And Electronic Systems Integration, Inc. (“BAE”), with a term of 15 years, whereby BAE and the Company initiated a joint development program of the Company’s POET technology, with royalties running from each to the other for licensed products sold."
