Pirelli Unveils 1,152-Fiber RILT Cable

March 7, 2000

3 Min Read

Pirelli Cables and Systems North America today announced the development of an 1,152-Fiber RILT(TM) (Ribbon-In- Loose-Tube) Cable design that will be available with standard single-mode fiber, non-zero dispersion-shifted (NZDS) fiber and with the latest generation of optical fiber, Corning(R) MetroCor(TM) optical fiber.

The 1,152-fiber cable is the next generation of Pirelli's ultra-high-count fiber optic cable products. MetroCor fiber is designed to help metropolitan telecommunications networks lower their operating costs, increase reliability and enhance flexibility. Pirelli made the announcement during the Optical Fiber Communications conference in Baltimore where Pirelli is exhibiting in Booth #3035.

The 1,152-fiber cable offers the highest fiber count of any fiber optic cable commercially available in North America. It continues Pirelli's succession of firsts in fiber optic cable technology. The company was the first to supply a 432-fiber design in 1995 and continued to set the pace for the industry with 720- and 864-fiber designs in 1998. Completion of field trials is expected by the end of the second quarter.

With more than 1,000 fibers, the newly developed cable maximizes existing rights-of-way and offers a solution to the growing bandwidth need in high- density metropolitan environments. Using existing transmission technology, it is theoretically possible for this fiber optic cable to carry the voice traffic of everyone in the world simultaneously.

"The 1,152-fiber cable continues our progression in developing high fiber- count cable solutions to meet the growing bandwidth requirements of the telecommunications industry," Raymond L. Robinson, president of Pirelli's Communications Division in North America, said. "Ultra-high fiber count cables are one of many fiber optic solutions Pirelli offers globally to support the exponential growth in Internet and data traffic. Utilizing MetroCor fiber in high fiber-count cables promises to bring the same value to metropolitan markets as Corning LEAF(R) fiber brought to the long-haul and regional applications when it was introduced."

A broad range of Pirelli cable designs will be fully qualified with MetroCor fiber upon commercial release later in 2000. MetroCor fiber will offer increased transmission distance capability while employing lower cost lasers. This advanced performance is achieved without the added cost and system design complexities associated with signal dispersion compensation technologies and associated additional optical amplification. MetroCor fiber will be fully compatible with existing single-mode fibers. MetroCor fiber is a G.655-compliant single-mode non-zero dispersion-shifted optical fiber that operates across the entire usable bandwidth from 1,280 nm to 1,625 nm.

The 1,152-fiber cable was designed to accommodate all types of standard single-mode fiber and non-zero dispersion-shifted (NZDS) fiber -- the most widely used fiber types in today's networks. And with the ribbon cable design, companies can utilize mass fusion splicing technology, which offers significant time savings when splicing ribbon fibers, thereby lowering installation costs. The small cable diameter also allows high packing density -- a critical feature in space-constrained urban areas.

The 1,152-fiber cable is a part of the Dri-Flex(TM) family of cable products from Pirelli. Dry water blocking technology is utilized, eliminating cable core flooding gels for cleaner and faster cable termination. Pirelli's flexible buffer tubes are featured, enhancing the ability to manage the fiber.

http://www.pirelli.com

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