Draka announces BendBright-Elite Ultra-Bend Insensitive Fiber

Photonics West, San José, January 24, 2009 -- Draka Communications, a global leader in the optical fiber industry, today launches a new type of Ultra-Bend Insensitive Fiber, BendBright-Elite, a sister product to BendBright-XS, its industry-leading bend-insensitive optical fiber for FTTx applications. BendBright-Elite is specially customized and fine-tuned for component intra-connections and specialty applications.

Tighter bendable fibers are not only enhancing FTTx applications through easier installations, they are also impacting component and specialties markets, by reducing component size and volume, minimizing the cost of ownership and enabling improved system density and optimizing footprint. Another clear advantage for Ultra-Bend Insensitive Fiber is to facilitate handling during manufacturing, thus reducing assembly time – and hence production costs – of optimized footprint components and specialty sub-systems.

Based upon its knowledge of trench-assisted core structures, BendBright-Elite, is an entirely new product within Draka’s DrakaEliteTM specialty fiber family suite, unveiled last year. This new product further enhances bend loss specifications and is of particular value for component intra-connection applications, a market segment where tighter bend radii are required.

With more integration and smaller footprints required for optical components to keep up with trends in miniaturization, processing power and data rates, coiling fibers inside optical components necessitates severe bend radius constraints. BendBright-Elite brings an unrivaled level of bend performance at any bend radius, while preserving full compatibility with standard single-mode fiber. This allows immediate footprint and handleability benefits, for all components and specialty sub-systems traditionally designed around standard intra-connecting single-mode fiber. In addition, BendBright-Elite offers, as a standard feature, high strength (200 kpsi strain), mandatory for increased reliability at very tight bends, as well as tight geometry, which is needed for component applications. Draka’s latest specialty fibre meets the requirements of specialty applications in a diversity of environments. BendBright-Elite is also available, on request, with high temperature coatings, 150C, 200C, for harsh usage environments such as aerospace or Marine, Oil and Gas.

“We’ve been listening to customers in the component and sub-assembly specialty markets, especially those working with military, medical, marine oil and gas, sensors, and we recognized there was great value for them to design their components or sub-systems around fibers with tighter bending performances”, said Aurélien Bergonzo, Product Line Manager DrakaElite Specialty fibers. “BendBright-Elite’s fine-tuned specification is the response they were waiting for to meet their exacting demanding specifications”.

Draka’s BendBright-Elite is made possible by combining trench-assisted core structures with the flexibility of its Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (PCVD) manufacturing process.

Draka Communications introduced the first generation of bend-insensitive fiber, BendBright, in 2002. Updated in 2005 to conform to low water peak standards, G.652.D, BendBright is a G.657.A fiber, with approximately ten times bending improvement over standard single mode fiber. The success of BendBright fiber is highlighted by the AT&T award “2005 Supplier Innovator of the Year”, given to Draka for FTTH drop cable based on BendBright fiber. The second generation bend-insensitive fiber BendBright-XS, a G.657.B fiber with a hundred times bending improvement over standard single mode fiber, was introduced in 2006.

Today, with BendBright-Elite, Draka uses its PCVD platform and trench-assisted core structure, the pillars of BendBright-XS’s performance, to release a newly engineered product which precisely matches the needs for specialty and component intra-connection applications.

Draka, headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a €2.8 billion, publicly listed (Euronext) company with 9,550 employees worldwide. As from 2008, Draka’s activities are divided into three Groups: Energy & Infrastructure, Industry & Specialty and Communications.

Draka Communications is a world leader in the development, production and sale of optical fiber, cable and cable systems. Draka has 68 operating companies in 30 countries throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia.

For more information please visit www.draka.com.