Corporate Office Properties recently purchased the facility, which has 100,000 sf of class A office space and a 50,000 sf high-tech clean room. Bookham will use the facility for research and development, manufacturing, assembly and sales operations and eventually plans to hire more than 1,000 new employees, says to Andy Quinn, president of North American operations.

Bookham intends to establish its North American headquarters at this location. The company designs, manufactures and markets optical components that allow communications networks to be constructed to meet the growing demands of Internet traffic. Using patented silicon-based technology, the company's products generate, detect, route and control light signals in optical communication networks.