OFS ANNOUNCES NEW, COMPACT OPTICAL CABLE ASSEMBLY FOR HIGH DENSITY APPLICATIONS

Speeds moves, adds, and changes, with increased reliability in central offices and data centers

OSP Expo 2007, Booth #532, San Jose, CA, August 29, 2007 – OFS, designer, manufacturer, and supplier of leading-edge fiber optic products and solutions, today announced it has developed a new and improved cable assembly that breaks the 3 meter (6.6 ft) minimum jumper length barrier required by many service provider specifications. OFS Blue Tiger^® and AllWave^® FLEX jumpers are now available in lengths down to 0.5 meters (1.5 ft) to ease congestion and cable management in dense applications.

Optical cable assemblies of less than 3 meters in length using conventional single-mode fiber (SMF) can cause a modal noise condition which in some cases could disrupt network service.  Telcordia GR-449, a specification referenced by many service providers, states that fiber jumpers should be 3 meters minimum in length, but shorter fiber jumpers shall be permitted to be used on an FDF (fiber distribution frame) if the supplier provides technical information demonstrating that the intermodal noise is attenuated over the supplier's minimum fiber jumper length.

The AllWave FLEX fiber selected for both OFS Blue Tiger and OFS AllWave FLEX jumpers uses a bend-optimized design which dramatically suppresses the modal noise problem to enable compact jumper lengths in OFS products such as the LGX^® Optical Cable Management System and the ORBITAL™ fiber distribution cabinet. OFS testing and modeling of AllWave FLEX jumpers have shown that these products, even under extreme conditions, reduce the modal noise to insignificant levels for jumper lengths as short as 0.5 meters.

AllWave FLEX bend-optimized fiber jumpers and cable assemblies enable cable assemblies to route through tight bends in cable management systems with minimal signal loss to increase reliability of high revenue video, data, and voice services.  Built-on a design originally invented by OFS Labs predecessor Bell Labs in 1986, the bend-optimized AllWave FLEX fiber was introduced to the market in March 2006 and today is the standard offer in OFS cable assemblies and premise cables.

About OFS

OFS is a designer, manufacturer, and supplier of leading edge optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTx, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products and solutions for the widest variety of applications and industries. OFS, formerly the optical fiber solutions division of Lucent Technologies Inc., has a proven track record of being first in the industry with application-specific fibers, optical connectors, ribbon cables, erbium doped fibers, Raman fiber lasers and more. OFS is committed to providing customers increased value by offering products that deliver lowest cost-per-bit network solutions, and protecting investments through flexible solutions for today’s demanding applications.

OFS distributes its optical fiber, optical fiber cable, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products directly to end users, as well as through valued distributors, external cable customers and equipment vendors.

OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications. Headquartered in Norcross, GA, OFS operates facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia.

For more information, please visit www.ofsoptics.com.

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PR Contact:
Fernando Costantino
Marketing Communications Manager
OFS
Phone 770-798-2729
fcostantino@ofsoptics.com