Corning's Bendable Fiber Sees First Customer Florida MDU installer praises tech, Verizon next? (old news - 02:08PM Friday Dec 28 2007) tags: Fiber · business · hardware · bandwidth · networking
Verizon has struggled with installing FiOS in apartment complexes and MDUs (multiple dwelling units) -- where a fifth of their customers live. Given that traditional fiber can't be bent without signal degredation, installs in and around apartment buildings and condos have proven tricky. Next year they'll be helped by a recent invention at Corning: bendable fiber.
Dubbed Clearcurve, Corning's solution infuses the cladding that surrounds the fiber's narrow core with nanostructures. Those nanostructures act as light guardrails. The result is fiber optic cable capable of transmitting at 25 trillion bits per second, that can even be wound into tight loops without degrading connectivity.
Obviously this is a huge boon to FTTH carriers like Verizon, who'll be able to snake fiber in and around a house to their heart's delight. Verizon worked with Corning during trials and has plans to deploy the technology shortly, but a company by the name of Connexion Technologies this week became the first Clearcurve customer.
According to Connexion, a Flordia FTTH installer, the bendable fiber was a time and money saver when it came to MDU installs. "During our field trials, we saw firsthand the ease and speed of installation of the ClearCurve Drop Cable," says company founder Glen Lang. "With this technology, we were able to realize at least a 30-percent time savings, in addition to material savings such as ducts."
So are they going to drop the old fiber altogether and go with this new bendable fiber instead?
I wonder if this new stuff is cheaper? -- "I am the worst president in U.S history, I'm either stupid or dumb most of the time, but people still believe me." George W. Bush
I wonder if this new stuff means that people who work with it for years on end won't have shredded hands?
As I understand it (and this is the Global Village Idiot talking here, mind) techs who handle fiber optic cable end up with glass fragments in their hands. Which meant that techs had to retire after X number of years simply because their hands were no longer any good.
(Not to mention the dangers of getting hit in the eye with a loose end of cable.)
Qumahlin Never Enough Time Premium,MVM join:2001-10-05 West Chester, PA
Re: In with the new, out with the old?
Maybe that was the case some time ago, but I know a few fiber layers/splicers two of which work for Verizon and the 3rd works for Comcast and they've never mentioned this issue to me...i'd imagine its something that would come up in our normal convos as we always talk about the various job hazards etc
I wonder if this new stuff means that people who work with it for years on end won't have shredded hands?
As I understand it (and this is the Global Village Idiot talking here, mind) techs who handle fiber optic cable end up with glass fragments in their hands. Which meant that techs had to retire after X number of years simply because their hands were no longer any good.
(Not to mention the dangers of getting hit in the eye with a loose end of cable.)
NOCMan Verizon Fios User Premium join:2004-09-30 Flower Mound, TX
No. It will be used where it makes sense to use it. Regular fiber will still be cheaper for now.
I have been pushing our suppliers to start thinking about this for Data Centers where sometimes we have issues with bent fibers. Never can seem to make server admins aware if they bend them they wont work. *shrug* They just yell at us network guys until it's fixed.
I have trouble shot some fiber to storage units where the server admins had just jammed the fiber and bent it around corners like they did with cat5 , and yet they wondered why the array cant hit 4 gig transfer speeds without the error rate sky rocketing.
Some people just don't understand how sensitive these can be.
Im really liking the rugged drop cable , might have to push for this when we start building our new datacenter. -- "It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"
Anyone else notice that when he's going through the demo with the staple gun that the video feed goes completely black? They then cut, and we come back to a fresh video on the monitor.
I saw the demo live - it does not loose signal at all. Loss topped out around 0.10.
In the verizon world, the only concern will be who will be placing the fiber. It will be used mostly for MDU locations, and in parts of VZ, that has historically been contractors placing microduct, and the VZ techs pull the fiber drops through. If the techs place the fiber, then they will be the ones up in the drop ceilings stapling to the rafters. Unless it is new construction, it could be a challenge.
If you noticed it was a video loop and it was just a black section of video during one of the cuts back to the cornings logo. -- "It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"
They had this stuff before they did the install at my house.. and tore up my backyard and back of my house (they destroyed the brickwork patio since they could not route around it easily)
anyone else feel that corning's stock might go up, at least a little based on the inevitable sales they will make? its currently $24, anyone financially savvy want to respond?
Depends on how much it will contribute to the bottom line profits. If they sell a LOT of it and can charge a premium and increase profits by 30% it will be a good thing if you own it. May take 5 or so years for it to become a large profit maker, may take less. Someone else could patent a new way of doing it and take away their sales if they sell the cable at a lower price...
cob_ 1310nm Of Goodness Premium join:2003-07-08 Tulsa, OK
Couple of things
I don't think normal single-mode fiber bend radius is all that limiting. It will probably be cost-prohibitive to use this stuff over mitigating extreme bends with regular fiber.
rcdailey Dragoonfly Premium join:2005-03-29 Rialto, CA
Re: Couple of things
said by cob_ :
I don't think normal single-mode fiber bend radius is all that limiting. It will probably be cost-prohibitive to use this stuff over mitigating extreme bends with regular fiber.
If it's cost-prohibitive, they won't use it. If it saves time and money while giving a better result, then it may be worth the extra cost for the fiber itself. It's also possible that Corning can bring the cost down as they produce more of the stuff.
That demo video is frickin awesome. They paired a pretty good marketeer (who knew the technicalities comfortably) with a product that really does show its own. A staple gun! Wow ...
I like how they didn't lie or hide anything -- you could see slight signal drop as the staples went in one by one, but as he pointed out without even saying it directly, -.01dB per staple is nothing compared to -9dB to -10dB. He said one could put in 40 staples like that and not have noticeable impact -- I'm figuring what -.4dB --- pretty darned good.
With due care, you could squeek out a nice -0dB to -.01dB with that stuff, and if you're sloppy, watch out, it's better than copper (in the same sloppiness)! "Gee, this unit is too fricked up and tight to install copper --- we better use fiber!" says the Deathstar technician, who proceeds to install a copper-over-fiber modem on both sides of the fiber ... yeauck.
Anyway, Verizon FiOS -- sorry, but all your old (current to date) installs -- they're going to be a rough equivilant to, but a little worse than, K&T (decent (instead of excellent) workmanship, not much reason (instead of no reason) to remove it, but clearly inferior cabling with respect to flexibility compared to the old stuff).
Corning's Bendable Fiber Sees First Customer
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Re: Flawed Video
Cool
