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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2008 8
Industry.news
Draka Communications will commence
production of BendBright-XS, its
bend-insensitive optical fibre, at its
flagship Claremont, North Carolina
manufacturing facility. This follows the
recent announcement by Draka, that
BendBright-XS sales now exceed the
250,000 km mark, worldwide.
The demand for BendBright-XS in
North America has been driven mainly
by large-scale deployments of FTTH
access networks by the major
telecommunications providers. With
these access networks extending all
the way to single family homes and
more recently multi-dwelling units
(MDUs), the need has surfaced for a
robust, easy to install optical fibre that
can endure the rigours of traditional
copper cable installations.
BendBright-XS answers these rapidly
emerging market demands with its
patented design, but is said to avoid
the possible technical complications,
such as splicing and connectorisation,
of other bend-insensitive fibres recently
introduced into the market.
“Since we first introduced BendBright-XS
at the FTTH Conference in 2006, the
demand for this fibre has grown in leaps
and bounds,” says Ryan Chappell,
Draka’s North American fibre business
manager.
“In 2008, the volumes of BendBright-XS
have become so significant that it only
makes sense to have local production
of the product to best serve the North
American market,” said Steve Linden,
director of operations, North America.
BendBright-XS, launched in 2006,
uses a “trench-assisted” index profile
to achieve the highest level of bend
performance on the market, meeting
the most stringent industry standard
for bend-insensitive fibre, ITU-T
G.657.B. With approximately 100x
micro bending and 100x macro
bending performance improvement
over standard single mode fibre,
BendBright-XS is suitable for access
networks where cables and fibres
are subjected to tight bends and
the rigours of harsh installation
techniques such as the stapling
of cables.
BendBright-XS is the only commercially
available all-glass fibre on the market
that meets and exceeds the stringent
ITU-T G.657.B bending requirements,
yet maintains full backwards com-
patibility with existing single mode
fibres, meeting ITU-T G.652.D.
Draka Holding – The Netherlands
Fax: +31 20 56 89 899
Website:
BendBright-XS in
North America
Draka Communications, Claremont, North Carolina m