April 5, 2007 -- At last week's OFC/NFOEC 2007, OFS announced that its bend-optimized AllWave FLEX Zero Water Peak (ZWP) singlemode fiber is the standard fiber used in the company's cable assembly offering of jumpers and connectorized cables.
According to the company, the AllWave FLEX ZWP fiber is the first ZWP G.652D and G.657A compliant fiber to provide outstanding bend performance for FTTX and enterprise networks, as well as other applications where small bend diameters may be encountered. The fiber is designed to maintain very low bending loss across the full usable spectrum of wavelengths from 1260 to 1625 nm. For FTTX applications, the AllWave FLEX ZWP cable assemblies can improve service reliability by reducing optical loss in the tight bends that usually abound in conventional optical access networks.
"Video services operating at the bending loss sensitive wavelengths of 1490, 1550, and eventually 1625 nm, are probably the most vulnerable applications in a conventional fiber network," says Bill Kloss, president of the North American cable and connectivity divisions at OFS. "AllWave FLEX cable assemblies help improve these critical services by reducing bending loss by 5 to 50 times compared to conventional single-mode fibers, and enable better service reliability, which can increase subscriber satisfaction and retention, and revenue opportunities."
According to OFS, advantages of the AllWave FLEX ZWP cable assemblies, as compared to conventional single-mode fibers, include:
-- More compact, easy-to-use connectivity products: the AllWave FLEX ZWP cable assemblies require less space for installation and maintenance, helping to lower installation costs and speed deployment.
-- Improved application performance and/or lower electronics costs: the assembiles' low "optimized bending" loss and ZWP low loss across the full spectrum can help applications perform better and require less costly electronics.
-- Increased reliability and uptime: the AllWave FLEX ZWP fiber's pure, inclusion free synthetic silica glass can improve service reliability and identify dangerous bends during normal field testing. The AllWave FLEX cable assemblies are engineered to have just enough bending loss to identify super tight risky bends (< 7.5 mm radius) during normal network testing. These dangerous bends can be located and mitigated prior to provisioning to help avoid service disruptions.
-- Fully backward and standards compatible: the AllWave FLEX ZWP fiber meets ITU-T G.652.D recommendation, and is superior to and compliant with the new G.657A recommendation for bend insensitive fiber.
-- Full splice compatibility: Cable assemblies featuring AllWave FLEX ZWP fiber can be spliced with standard G.652 single-mode fibers, with standard splice programs.
-- Fast and easy installation: the assemblies' simple yet innovative fiber design allows for low loss fusion splicing and testing with standard settings, and supports one-way OTDR testing.
Products using AllWave FLEX cordage or cable as the standard offer include connectorized cable assemblies, preterminated shelf assemblies, combination splice termination units, and standard jumpers with all available connector types. AllWave FLEX ZWP fiber is also the standard in all of the company's Access ADVANTAGET System FTTX products and components, including those used in the company's ORBITAL fiber distribution cabinet.
The company also continues to offer cable assembly products with AllWave ZWP fiber for specific market applications and customer requests.
