Successful Roanoke optometrist, inventor and entrepreneur Ron Blum disclosed few particulars through mostly zipped lips.

Circumspect communication has been Blum's pattern during the comparatively lean years since he whacked a towering home run in 1997 -- the year he sold his company, Innotech, and its lens technology to Johnson & Johnson for $135 million.

Now Blum, 61, is parceling out details about what he and colleagues describe as a revolutionary new eyeglass product under development by startup PixelOptics and unnamed partners. Blum is the company's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

But this time around, the momentum building around PixelOptics' technologically advanced lens seems to suggest the company might be on to something big.

Financial backers include major venture capital and private equity firms. Employment could more than triple by late 2009, and PixelOptics has outgrown its space.

And the company has recruited to Roanoke a management team with impressive credentials and years of experience with top players in the industry.

Spinoffs

In 2005, PixelOptics spun off from eVision, a spinoff of the Egg Factory -- the Roanoke-based, innovation-focused, privately held company Blum founded in 1999.

In the years since, Blum has touted periodically the potential of other new technologies, referred to as "eggs," being developed by the Egg Factory.

To date, most of those eggs have failed to hatch. One, LevelVision Media, has achieved some success and seems headed for more.

Although Blum acknowledges the Egg Factory's batting average has been low, he insists PixelOptics could whack a grand slam.

"Admittedly, this has been a long time coming," Blum said. "And it's been hard."

If PixelOptics succeeds, the region stands to gain -- especially if the lens is manufactured here.

Of course, a similar opportunity in Roanoke with Johnson & Johnson and its Definity eyeglass lens -- which relied, in part, on Blum-developed technology -- eventually shattered. Johnson & Johnson sold that technology and left town.

Essilor, the world's largest supplier of eyeglasses, now manufactures and sells the Definity progressive addition lens.

Johnson & Johnson's former 147,000-square-foot office and manufacturing facility, off Interstate 581 between Countryside Golf Club and Hershberger Road, remains vacant. It is available for sale or lease through Waldvogel Commercial Properties.

Blum isn't saying where the lens might be manufactured, but he has long supported high-tech economic development in the Roanoke Valley.

The momentum

PixelOptics says its electro-active lens would replace conventional lenses with "intelligent lenses" that employ a microprocessor, liquid crystal and other high-tech features. The new lens would adjust focusing power electronically, in milliseconds, and provide much-improved correction for a common, age-related condition called presbyopia.

As envisioned, people who wear bifocals, trifocals or progressive addition lenses would be able to read a book, glance at a computer and then peer out the window and retain a crisp focus throughout.

PixelOptics has recruited executive-level employees from Essilor and other industry companies. Others are on their way.

PixelOptics has 22 employees. Blum anticipates that number will grow to 40 by the end of 2008 and reach 75 by the end of 2009. He said the company also intends to hire people from the region.

And the growing company plans to move in August from a small space off Hershberger Road to an existing 17,000-square-foot building at Valleypointe business park in Roanoke County.

Chief Operating Officer Bill Spies, 58, moved to Roanoke from Redding, Conn. He was an Essilor vice president before joining PixelOptics.

He knew little about Roanoke when he accepted.

"Had I ever heard of it? I suppose," Spies said. "Had I ever been here before? No."

Spies said Blum's reputation as an innovator in the optical industry was one draw. The potential of PixelOptics' lens was another.

"I feel it's very much for real," he said.

Chief Financial Officer Steve Holt, 46, left a similar position in Ta-coma, Wash., and moved his family back to Roanoke, where he once worked for Innotech and Johnson & Johnson's Spectacle Lens Group.

"The opportunity of Pixel-Optics is not to be overlooked," Holt said.

Opportunity

Rod Passarelli, 58, is vice president of retail sales and moved to Roanoke from Carmel, Ind. He too left Essilor to come to PixelOptics. He was once a vice president of ophthalmic lenses for Bausch & Lomb and has 30 years of experience in the optical industry.

"The technology brought me to Roanoke," Passarelli said. "I really believe it's going to change the industry and the way people see eyeglasses. I believe it has the potential to change people's lives."

Yassin Turshani, 57, and his wife are moving from Madeira Beach, Fla. Turshani, a polymer chemist, has been in Essilor's research and development department.

Amitava Gupta, 61, and his wife are returning to Roanoke from Florida. Gupta was Innotech's chief technology officer and, until his retirement, a senior scientist for Johnson & Johnson.

Joshua Haddock, 32, manager of electro-active optics, moved from Atlanta.

Robin Rhodes, 49, vice president of professional sales, is moving from Sacramento, Calif., where she has worked for Hoya's North America Group.

"I didn't want to be in my current company watching this go by me," Rhodes said.

Funding

Financial partners include The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms. Others, Blum said, include Delphi Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on early stage investment in medical devices and biotechnology, and Stark Investments.

"The company is well-funded," he said.

One previous investment deal fell through.

In early 2006, PixelOptics and San Diego-based Boston Health Group announced that Boston would fund up to $32 million in equity and debt to PixelOptics over time. Blum said financial problems of Boston Health Group's parent company scuttled that deal.

Experienced recruits command high salaries, Blum acknowledged. Another enticement, he said, is an opportunity to own a piece of a company that might strike gold.

Blum declined to speculate about when the lens might hit the market. Instead, he dangled a hint.

"We would not have all these people here if we were five years away," Blum said.