Draka Comteq adds vibrant colours to BendBrightXS with ColorLockXS Fibre Coating

New patented ColorLockXS fibre coating improves microbending performance and strip-ability while enhancing colour vibrancy to offer an advanced FTTx deployment solution .

Amsterdam, November 7, 2007 -- Draka Comteq, a global leader in optical fibre technology, cabling, connectivity solutions and network engineering services, today announces that its latest innovation in fibre coating technology, ColorLockXS, will be available on Draka Comteq’s flagship bend-insensitive fibre, BendBrightXS as from January 2008. BendBrightXS, the first true bend-insensitive fibre introduced in 2006, has gained significant momentum in the marketplace as it meets the most stringent fibre bending standards while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing fibre infrastructure.

The newest enhancement, ColorLockXS, improves fibre microbending performance as well as strip-ability, while adding new vibrant colours integrated into the fibre coating. Unlike other fibres, BendBrightXS is an all-glass fibre using proven and industry accepted materials and technology, eliminating splicing concerns or special procedures for connectivity.

Microbending improvement with ColorLockXS coating on BendBrightXS means that the fibre is resistant to kink-losses, a key metric for fibre performance in tight bends required in FTTx applications. Kink-loss can be described as partial bends ( up to 45 degrees) of the optical fibre at radii as small as 2 mm. Typical losses for BendBrightXS in such a situation are less than 0.1 dB, even at a 2 mm radius, which represents up to a hundred times improvement.

“This combination of BendBrightXS with the new ColorLockXS coating is yet another example of Draka Comteq’s clear leadership in optical fibre technology. It shows our commitment to raise the bar, continuously innovating our products, which ultimately add significant value to the customer,” says Phil Edwards, President of Draka Comteq Optical Fibre.

Industry acknowledgement
BendBrightXS, Draka Comteq’s flagship bend-insensitive fibre is acknowledged as an industry standard in fibre optic cabling operations. BendBrightXS, now available for over a year, uses a “trench-assisted” index profile to achieve the highest level of bend performance, meeting the most stringent industry standard for bend-insensitive fibre, ITU-T G.657.B. With approximately 100X macro bending performance improvement over standard single mode fibre, BendBrightXS with ColorLockXS coating is ideal for access networks where cables and fibre are subjected to tight bends and the rigours of harsh installation techniques.

BendBrightXS is also unique because it is the first and only all-glass fibre on the market that meets and exceeds ITU-T G.657.B bending requirements, while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing single mode fibres to ITU-T G.652.D standard. The success of BendBright fiber is highlighted by the AT&T award “2005 Supplier Innovator of the Year”, given to Draka Comteq for FTTH drop cable.

About ColorLockXS Fibre Coating
Unlike other fibres that require an additional process to add colour, ColorLockXS uses a patented technology in which colours are added during the draw process. Integrated colours are guaranteed not to wear, maintaining vibrancy t hroughout the lifetime of the fibre. More importantly, BendBrightXS with ColorLockXS is the only optical fibre in the world proof tested after colours are added.

“With more and more discussions of reduced bend radius fibre storage we think that Draka Comteq clearly has the best lifetime performance, bar none, in the optical fibre industry,” states Phil Edwards.

Photo: Patented  ColorLock^XS  is available on Draka Comteq’s flagship bend-insensitive fibre, BendBright^XS in January 2008. Ideal for FTTx deployment,  this new coating improves fibre microbending performance as well as strip-ability while adding vibrant colours that are integrated into the fibre coating.

With FTTx and the increasing density of fibre networks, this new Draka Comteq product can simplify installation, improve handling and identification and reduce ongoing maintenance costs ( a high definition photo is available from terry@eurocom.be ).

About Draka Comteq
Draka is a € 2.5 billion, publicly listed (Euronext) company with 9,200 employees in countries worldwide and headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Draka has two groups, Draka Cableteq and Draka Comteq, itself dedicated to the development, production and sale of optical fibre, cable and communication infrastructure solutions. A jointly owned company of Draka and Alcatel-Lucent, Draka Comteq is a global leader in optical fibre technology and cabling solutions, with a comprehensive suite of network design and engineering services. For more information please visit www.draka.com