Corning reveals optical fibre “100 times more bendable” than standard fibres

July 24, 2007 – Corning, a US manufacturer of speciality glass and ceramics, has revealed a new type of optical fibre that will reportedly make fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and in-building fibre wiring much easier.

The new optical fibre is described as being able to be bent around very tight corners with virtually no signal loss, or even looped.  Peter F. Volonakis, President and COO of Corning, said: “This is a game-changing technology for telecommunications applications.  We have developed an optical fibre cable that is as rugged as copper cable but with all the bandwidth benefits of fibre.  By making fundamental changes in the way light travels in the fibre, we were able to create a new optical fibre which is over 100 times more bendable than standard fibres.”

The breakthrough is reportedly based on a new “nanoStructures” optical fibre design.  Corning has announced that it will introduce a full suite of optical fibre, cable and hardware and equipment solutions based on its nanoStructures technology platform this autumn at the Fibre-to-the-Home Conference in Orlando, Florida on September 30 to October 4.

Mr. Volakis continued that this development will allow operators to bring fibre to the home and make in-building optical wiring viable: “There are more than 680 million apartment homes worldwide, including more than 25 million in the United States.  The high cost of installation and difficulty in delivering fibre to the home made this market unappealing to most providers.  We have been working closely with these carriers to create a solution that will make this more economically viable for them and their customers.”

One of the main supporters of FTTP technology is Verizon Communications, who in February 2007 commissioned a joint working team with Corning to solve the problems of multiple dwelling unit installation using the new fibre solution.  “We are working closely with Corning to solve the challenges of providing fibre solutions to high-rise apartment complexes across the United States,” commented Paul Lacouture, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Technology, Verizon Telecom Group.  “This fibre technology will enable us to bring faster Internet speeds, higher-quality high-definition content, and more interactive capabilities than any other platform which exists today.”