San Diego defense contractor Trex Enterprises Corp. plans to use a new Albuquerque office to commercialize optics technologies developed at New Mexico Tech and other institutions here.

The new facility, in the Broadbent Business Park, will eventually employ more than 30, the company said. 

About 15 employees from existing Trex offices in Socorro and at White Sands Missile Range have been consolidated to the Albuquerque location which officially opened Tuesday. 

"This will foster collaboration between university, the community and our friends in the military," said Van Romero vice president of and general manager of Trex's New Mexico operations

Romero is also vice president for research at New Mexico Tech. He is currently on sabbatical.

The company, which was founded in the early 1980s to explore using lasers to target and track rockets, satellites and other space vehicles, also develops advanced communications technology using radio frequencies and lasers. The firm plans to continue its optics, or laser, research here, using technologies developed in Socorro, at White Sands and other facilities, with the aim of commercializing them for military or civilian uses. 

Thomas Fargo a retired Navy admiral who serves as Trex's executive vice president, said New Mexico was an ideal location for the business to expand. 

"You have a high-tech history, academic institutions that produce high quality graduates, and great political support for these kinds of business," he said.

Trex will eventually employ about 36 here, said Allen Hunter, president of its research and development division. Many of those jobs will be what he called entry level, and will target recent optics program graduates. 

"You've become part of the wonderful emerging secret that is no longer so well kept," said Mayor Martin Chávez, on hand for Tuesday's ribbon cutting event.

Trex, which employs 185 in California, Hawaii and New Mexico, has spun off two subsidiaries, one that develops high-speed communications systems, and another creating the next generation of airport passenger screening portals, capable of detecting new threats such as plastic explosives.