CORNING, N.Y. -- Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), a leading supplier of optical fiber and components in the telecommunications industry, today announced the development of a new technology, a more simplified and versatile approach to optical fiber holding and precise fiber alignment. The Corning Polymer Gripper is a one-of-a-kind fiber holding device that allows fibers to be snapped into place with sub-micron precision. The photolithography process used to form the polymer grippers provides precise fiber to fiber tolerances while allowing flexibility in the design of the product. Gripper size, configuration and material substrate can be tailored to customer specification.“We are very excited about this breakthrough and the opportunity to provide the telecommunications marketplace with a more manageable solution for interconnection and alignment of optical fiber and components,” stated Mark Beck, business manager, Corning Photonic Materials. “We are making great strides in offering a well-rounded materials platform to the photonics industry.” At the Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) Conference, Corning Photonic Materials will be displaying the polymer gripper technology in conjunction with a new fiber array and collimator array. Also on display will be Photonic Materials’ Polarcor™ glass polarizers, OptiFocus™ lensed fibers, SMILE™ lens arrays and QuantumFocus™ gradient index lenses. Corning Inc.For more information on OFC 2002, please visit: www.nottheofc.com