RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Sumitomo Electric Lightwave announced that its FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber System has been awarded Qualified Products Listing (QPL) by the DSCC, Defense Supply Center, Columbus of the Defense Logistics Agency. Having undergone extensive mechanical, optical, environmental, chemical, and flame and smoke testing, among other evaluation criteria, the air-blown fiber products meet naval sea system requirements and qualifications of MIL-PRF-85045.
Included in the Qualified Product Listing are the FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber Systems’ major components and respective government designations: 7-tube cable (M85045/25-01S), 1-tube cable (M85045/26-01S), 62.5 micron multimode 6-fiber bundle (M85045/27-01), 62.5 micron multimode 18-fiber bundle (M85045/29-0118), single-mode 6-fiber bundle(M85045/27-02), and single-mode 18 fiber bundle (M85045/29-0218).
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According to Sumitomo, the one and seven tube cables form the fiber pathway providing virtually unlimited fiber, bandwidth and pathway capacity. Through the tube cable pathway, fiber bundles are blown in and out at speeds of up to 150 feet per minute, providing the U.S. Navy ships with mission critical speed and performance for quick fiber installations, upgrades, restorations and any moves, adds, and changes (MACs) for ship alteration while at dockside or at sea.
Unlike traditional cabling systems that necessitate the labor and cost intensive process of pulling optical fiber cable, the FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber System provides the means with which to install fiber quickly and easily even in highly secure or hazardous areas of the ship. Because fiber and pathway management is done behind the scenes, FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber is environmentally green and non-disruptive, thereby eliminating the need to access overhead cableways and secure areas, pull floor deck plates/panels, or disturb the watertight integrity of the ship for fiber installations network upgrades, and changes. Since only two installers are typically needed to make those changes, FutureFLEX alleviates having to screen large work crews, further contributing to the physical security of the ship. By eliminating construction work for MACs, FutureFLEX may also save 70-90% of the costs associated with traditional cabling, reckons Sumitomo.
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“Although the FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber System has had a long history of successful government and military installations, the important QPL listing allows Sumitomo Electric Lightwave to serve better the U.S Navy by providing its leading-edge and mission critical Air-Blown Fiber technology across all Navy ship classes," comments Kurt Templeman, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s director of enterprise networks. “It is both an honor and a privilege to offer the U.S. Navy the most advanced fiber optic system available.”
For more information, visit: www.sumitomoelectric.com and www.futureflex.com.