Sumitomo Intros Low Water Peak Fiber

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, a leading manufacturer of fiber optic cable and related products for the telecommunications marketplace, announced today the full conversion of its standard single-mode fiber to Sumitomo's PureBand low water peak optical fiber.

PureBand is the industry's highest quality low water peak single-mode fiber (SMF) that meets the full spectrum performance demanded by today's network applications. Introduced in March 2002, PureBand fiber exceeded customer expectations by delivering lower attenuation and greater flexibility in network design. Excellent customer reaction has prompted Sumitomo to replace its existing single-mode fiber with PureBand SM fiber in all cable product lines effective immediately. Providing optimal functionality to service providers demanding higher speed data rate and greater bandwidth requirements, Sumitomo's PureBand single-mode fiber allows network designers to transmit more channels on a single fiber, to increase channel spacing to facilitate course wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM), or to withhold the additional wavelengths for future applications.

PureBand features superior flattened water peak attenuation performance with uninhibited transmission throughout the 1280 to 1625 nm wavelength range.

"In our commitment to offer our customers a competitive advantage with new fiber and cable solutions that address their needs for metro and access networks, we have completed the conversion to PureBand for all conventional single-mode fiber product requirements. To ensure that we are meeting our customers' needs for optimal performance over the entire terrestrial network, we also offer our PureMetro* non-zero dispersion shifted fiber for high-speed metro ring applications, PureGuide* for highly optimized long-haul, and Pure Access* fibers for the more specialized needs of FTTP and access network applications," comments Bill Beasley, Sumitomo's director of marketing and product management.

PureBand fiber complies with ITU-T G. 652-C specifications and all major industry standards, and is fully compatible with the installed base of existing single-mode fiber. All Sumitomo cables are qualified against Telcordia and RUS standards and are manufactured in facilities that are both TL-9000 and ISO 9001 certified.

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp.