OFS LAUNCHES ADVANCED LARGE DIAMETER FIBER FITEL® FUSION SPLICER S183PMII TO GLOBAL MARKET

Maximum Fiber Cladding Diameter Increased to 500 ìm; Significantly Reduced Splicing Time

OFC/NFOEC 2009, Booth 2539, San Diego, California, March 23, 2009 - OFS and Furukawa Electric today announce the commercial release of their FITEL® fusion splicer, the S183PM series II, to the global market.  The S183PMII can splice large diameter optical fibers up to 500 ìm in cladding diameter.

“The key advantage of the S183PMII is its unrivaled user interface,” said Linda Dembowski, General Manager, Optical Connectivity Solutions. “The industry leading graphical user interface (GUI) simplifies the operation of the splicer for our customers, and that can decrease the overall time in the field for our customers.”

In addition, the S183PMII dramatically improved optics provides improved splicing performance along with improved splice loss estimation.

Product Features:

• Applicable Fiber
  The S183PMII can splice fibers with diameters from 80 ìm to 500 ìm.   The S183PMII can splice PANDA, Tiger and Bowtie PM fibers plus many other fiber types such as NZDS, DCF, SM, MM and many others.
• RoHS Compliant 
  The S183PMII is RoHS compliant.
• High-Speed Splicing
  The splicing is automatic and fast.  Splice time is 20 seconds for single mode fibers and 40 seconds for polarization maintaining fibers (PANDA).
• Twist Prevention Design
  The S184PMII has a twist prevention design. The twisting of optical fiber during the alignment process is minimized.  This contributes to improved productivity and enhanced end user product reliability.
• Automatic Setup
  The S183PMII automatically adjusts for different setup conditions based simply on the fiber’s coating diameter, cladding diameter and cutting length. There is no need to exchange fiber clamps or V grooves.
• Simple Operation
  In addition to the simple fiber loading, there is no need for troublesome manual operations after splicing of polarization maintaining fibers. Spliced fibers can be easily removed from the splicer.
• Intuitive Feeling of Operation
  A GUI has been incorporated, achieving mobile phone-like operability with its simple function keys and icons.
• Large Easily-Viewable User-Friendly Monitor
  A 6.5 inch high-resolution LCD monitor has been incorporated. The location of the monitor can be switched either to the front of the equipment or to the rear, depending on the operational environment.

About OFS

OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTX, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products.  Our manufacturing and research divisions work together to provide innovative products and solutions that traverse many different applications as they link people and machines worldwide. Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods, and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components for efficient, cost-effective transmission.
 
OFS’ corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and includes technology powerhouses such as AT&T (NYSE: T) and Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent, NYSE: ALU). Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications.

Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta) Georgia, U.S., OFS is a global provider with facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia.

For more information, please visit www.ofsoptics.com.

###

Sherry Salyer      
OFS Public Relations      
shsalyer@ofsoptics.com    
Direct:  770-798-4210 
Mobile: 678-296-7034