CITY OF CORTEZ AND OFS ANNOUNCE THAT FTTH NETWORK GOES LIVE

Norcross, Georgia, May 9, 2011 - OFS, a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of innovative fiber optic network products, and the City of Cortez, Colorado, today announced that phase one of the City’s Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network went live this month serving businesses in the City increasing the bandwidth for commerce, communications and data.

“The multiphase FTTH plan for the City of Cortez is an open access/ open service model of deploying high capacity fiber to the community,” said Rick Smith, City General Services Director.  “The open access model means the Cortez will not be providing the services to end-users, but instead partnering with area service providers who will use the system to bring high capacity services to the businesses and enterprises that request the service.”

Southwest Colorado Council of Governments secured the initial funding for this project which came from a state grant of one million dollars from oil, gas and coal leasing rights. The City of Cortez provided the 25% match for the grant funds. The funds are being funneled back into developing the economy and growth of Cortez and the surrounding area by offering potential large employers or data center providers the bandwidth and technology to grow their business from Colorado.

The City of Cortez network utilized a complete OFS FOX FTTH Solution including a customized fundamental network design plan using OptiCost™ modeling software,  Fortex™ DT All-Dielectric gel-free cable with AllWave® ZWP fiber, Orbital™ fiber distribution cabinets, as well as full spectrum optical splitters. 
“In keeping with requests by the City of Cortez, the installation of the fiber was through underground conduit into OFS’ Orbital fiber distribution cabinets and to businesses covered in phase one,” said John George, Director, Systems and Applications Engineering for OFS.   “The city-wide fundamental network design plan provided by OFS incorporates the anchor institutions already connected by the City.  Future phases of the project are planned to expand the network to service areas outside the first phase business area with additional fiber rings and distribution cabinets covering the city.”

About City of Cortez
The City of Cortez offers businesses an ideal location to reach markets in Southwestern Colorado and the Four-Corners area.  Our goal is to make Metro style broadband affordable in a rural Colorado setting. We believe our high quality of life and outdoors lifestyle promotes a positive experience for businesses and industry. Please visit our website to learn more about doing business in and with the City.
www.cityofcortez.com

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.

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PR Contact:       
Sherry Salyer 
OFS Public Relations       
shsalyer@ofsoptics.com       
(770)798-4210