Early beginnings

EXFO was founded over 30 years ago in the apartment of an engineering student turned entrepreneur. 

Germain Lamonde had just completed his master’s degree in optics at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada when he started the future multinational with an initial investment of just $100. He still remembers writing the mission statement on his balcony during the summer of 1985: “to become the world leader in fiber optic testing for the telecom industry”.

Germain foresaw that singlemode fiber optic cables would one day be widely used by communications networks worldwide, a bold vision that ran contrary to popular opinion. He struck out on his own to develop modular handheld power meter and light source test instruments, followed by a succession of portable instruments to measure the integrity of optical fiber.

Thanks to the success of EXFO’s first products, the company soared during its first 16 years as a pure-play supplier in the optical testing space. In 2000, EXFO became a publicly traded company.