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NEWSMAKER-Humbled visionary of fiber optics resigns from JDS
Reuters August 21, 2003
By Eric Auchard
NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Jozef Straus, a visionary who saw how fiber optics could revolutionize communications but was dealt a huge setback as the telecom bubble burst, stepped aside on Thursday as chief executive of JDS Uniphase JDSU.O.
The bearded, beret-wearing Czech emigre who founded optical component maker JDS 22 years ago became a leading proponent of the idea that light- based fiber optics could overcome data bottlenecks left by traditional electro- mechanical gear.
That vision of the Soviet-era refugee from Czechoslovakia, combined with his distinctive look, made him a leading business personality in his adopted Canada and a colorful icon within the typically buttoned-down telecommunications industry.
"His claim to fame is that he literally developed this industry. He did it against a lot of opposition, said Francis McInerney, managing director of North River Ventures, a telecommunications consulting firm in New York.
Straus, who is 57, was a lonely voice in the 1980s when he correctly predicted that fiber optics would eventually become a cost-effective method of transporting long-distance phone calls and data-intensive video data.
But his success in consolidating the once highly fragmented optical industry ran aground after the phone spending craze of the late 1990s came crashing down. The Internet boom subsided and big JDS customers became embroiled in financial scandals.
The abrupt boom-to-bust forced JDS to write off the entire $42 billion value of its acquisition of SDL -- the second biggest accounting write-off in corporate history.
"He was not necessarily the saving grace that his defenders make him out to be," said Frank Dzubeck, a telecoms strategy consultant in Washington D.C. "He could have taken steps to mitigate the pain to his company as the industry crumbled."
