Overtaking the 2 million kilometer mark, Draka’s bend-insensitive fiber exceeds year-to-date expectations, imposing itself as the fiber of choice for FTTH end-to-end deployment
ECOC2010, Torino, September 19, 2010 – Draka Communications, a global leader in the cabling and optical fiber industry today announces that year-to-date 2010 shipments for its flagship bend-insensitive fiber BendBright-XS doubled, bringing cumulated output over 2 million kilometers since its introduction. With this surge in demand, Draka’s bend-friendly fiber imposes itself as the fiber of choice for FTTH end-to-end deployment, offering measurable technological, economic and environmental benefits from deployment.
“This growth is predominantly due to a leap in FTTH project expansion around the world, “says Alain Bertaina, Product Marketing, Single-mode Fiber Draka Communications.” It underlines the fact that the challenges of accelerating FTTH deployment, reflected in the latest ITU G.657 recommendations are comfortably accommodated with BendBright-XS. This record product output exceeded Draka’s expectations over the last year.”
In November 2009, the ITU-T revised its cornerstone G.657 recommendation for bend-insensitive single-mode optical fibers and cables for the access network, to incorporate the latest industry technology advances. The updated ITU-T G.657 specification now recognizes that improved bending performance further reduces costs for operators rolling out fiber to the home (FTTH), while addressing current regulatory concerns for end-to-end fiber consistency. This revised ITU recommendation fully preserves the original structure, with A and B categories, for total backward compatibility with the earlier G.657 version.
A key aspect of FTTH deployment is the presence of multiple distribution points scattered along the infrastructure as compared to metropolitan or long-haul networks. In many countries, the increased density of optical fiber infrastructure to serve the needs for Fiber to the Home has driven the requirement for smaller cables with a higher fiber count and increasingly more compact associated connectivity equipment, performing according to standardized requirements and compatible with common fiber cable installation practices.
The new G.657.A2 compliant bend-insensitive fibers are proving to be revolutionary triggers for innovative cable and installation solutions. Leveraging its fully industrial PCVD production platform, Draka offers G.657.A2 bend-friendly fibers that are in accordance with G.652.D in all of their characteristics, and with orders of magnitude improvements resulting in lower macro- and micro-bending features.
“ We have demonstrated the same field handling and installation capabilities for our regular 250μm version as well as for a new footprint-optimized 200μm coated fiber, recently introduced, “ explains Alain Bertaina. “ And by
building upon those unique properties, our G.657.A2 fibers are cornerstones to develop and implement innovative cable and installation solutions in many FTTH projects around the world”. Draka has proven that reduced size cables based on FlextubeTM micro-module technology and 200 μm coated bend insensitive fibers can increase the number of fibers in an existing duct by as much as 50 %, minimizing civil works, street traffic disturbances, reducing cost of ownership and environmental impact.
Within this context, Draka has used G.657.A2 bend-insensitive fibers to innovate installation techniques, encompassing all of the features of G.652.D enhanced single-mode fibers while providing high resistance to macro and micro-bending. Draka fibers have the flexibility to be pushed, pulled, bent, branched, and handled in ways that allow easy manipulation for installation, without degradation to the transmission signal.
Recently, Draka introduced retractable cable solutions to reduce connection time and complexity of FTTH deployment , both in outdoor and indoor environments, reducing Total Cost of Operations (TCO) for network roll-out. This is exemplified by Draka’s SmartDraw technique, introduced earlier this year, a retractable cable solution originally developed for use in the man-accessible sewers of the city of Paris. The efficient technique which emerged has since been adapted and the products have been fine-tuned for use in duct and direct buried situations. In addition, the technique has been widely used for indoor deployment. Currently, with ultra bend-insensitive fibers making their way into some of the most demanding Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU) environments, these modern fiber solutions offer an excellent ratio between cost and bend loss performance , accounting for their significant success and the resulting substantial growth in today’s marketplace.
These latest developments in BendBright Technology leverage the versatility of the PCVD deposition process of Draka’s manufacturing process , using a simple, robust all-solid Single-Trench-Assisted Fiber profile. As early as 2006, Draka’s BendBright-XS was compliant with both G.657.B and G.652.D ITU-T recommendations. In 2008, Draka introduced an ultra bend-insensitive fiber featuring high-end bending performance while also enjoying full G.652.D compliancy with international standards. Draka introduced the BendBright family of bend insensitive fibers in 2002 and has since expanded the product family to four versions of bend insensitive fiber, spanning both single-mode and multimode types.
Draka
Draka (Euronext Amsterdam: DRAK), headquartered in Amsterdam, has 9400 employees in countries worldwide and 2009 revenues of over € 2 billion. Draka has a presence in 31 countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia.
Draka’s activities are divided into three groups: Energy & Infrastructure, Industry & Speciality and Communications. Draka Communications with its four business units, Telecom Solutions, Multimedia Specials, Optical Fiber and Cable Solutions is a global market leader in the development, production and sales of fibers, cables and advanced network solutions. More information at www.draka.com/communications.
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Photo: FTTH Customers prefer Draka flexibility - Over the past year demand for Draka’s flagship bend-insensitive fiber BendBright-XS doubles, giving a total production output exceeding 2 million kilometers.
More Information
Contact:
Draka Communications
Alain Bertaina
Tel: + 33 130776306 or alain.bertaina@draka.com
Draka Communications PR
Thea Dullemans,
Tel: + 31 20 568 98 55 or thea.dullemans@draka.com