Yesterday

The Optilas Group was founded in 1973 in Evry, 35 km south of Paris. The goalm was, and remains, to be a respected, highly competent sales and marketing organisation for high-tech products. Thus, providing optimum technical advice to our
customers has always been of utmost importance. Equally important, from the outset, we have always only offered top quality products. This concept was considered long term. The concentration on "first class products and best possible advice" was the key to the success of Optilas. We initially specialised in the areas of optical products and laser technology. Only a year after the initial start-up the first subsidiary was founded in The Netherlands responsible for the Benelux countries.

Today

The concept of providing both high quality products and competent application oriented consulting has proved successful: The Optilas Group now has offices in Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain. In addition to the traditional markets for optical and laser products, Optilas has extended its activity into the following areas:

° Laser Material Processing
° Electro-optic Components
° Imaging
° Fiber-optic Communication
° Optical Measurement
° Electronic Measurement & Test Systems
° Spectroscopy

Today Optilas is the leading European distributor in our field.

The Optilas Group was acquired by Avnet Inc. in May 1998. This acquisition strategically reinforces Avnet's Global Technical Distribution Group (Avnet GTDG) and provides an opportunity to expand globally.

Tomorrow

Avnet GTDG will merge BFI-IBEXSA with the Optilas Group as rapidly as possible. BFI-IBEXSA is the leading European technical distributor in the specialised area of RF/Microwave components, magnetic cores and sensors. The BFI-IBEXSA Group is made up of 8 companies located in Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, England, France, Italy and Spain.

The new BFI OPTILAS unit will form an entity with annual sales of over US $ 120 million. Each of the Optilas and BFI-IBEXSA sales teams will maintain their dedication and specialisation per product family, but the merged unit will benefit from common pan-European logistics, administration and financial support.