Foreign Companies Entering the US Market

There are many companies manufacturing fiber optic products trying to enter the US market; companies from China, Japan, Europe and South America. I have been to hundreds of websites and seen one bad English version after the next. The most simple problem and the easiest to solve is poor translation into English. A US customer wants to feel that you are familiar with this market and will be easy to interface with. You cannot convey that feeling if your website does not communicate well.

I have been in the industry for 17 years and know the terminology inside and out. Let me proof your website and edit the English content. I have extensive experience dealing with overseas vendors and customers and I know what communicates well in the fiber optics industry. Please contact me to find out more about my services and how I can help you increase revenue here in the USA.

Stephen O'Riorden

steveoriorden@gmail.com

3M Teams up with FiberZone to Sell Automated Fiber Management System for the Data Center

AUSTIN, Texas--Today, 3M announced a strategic business alliance with FiberZone Networks, the leading provider of Automated Fiber Management (AFM) solutions, to bring its AFM system to the data center market.

From always-on movies to data storage in the cloud to corporate and consumer digital archives, managing the data infrastructure has become a critical discipline for today’s enterprises. A single outage can affect thousands of customers and significantly impact the revenue of network and cloud providers.

The AFM system from FiberZone Networks enables remote provisioning of a data center’s fiber network, avoiding the operational costs and downtime associated with manual operation of traditional patch panels. This allows data center operators to dynamically manage fiber connectivity based on load requirements and customer needs, enabling on-demand services and new service offerings – such as managed cage and expedited cross-connect services – along with the reliability, flexibility, fault tolerance and management for the fiber infrastructure that manual patching cannot offer.

Key to the AFM product reliability and stable performance is the patented Latched Optical Coupling (LOC™) technology. This technology creates a secure, physical optical fiber connection within the system which can be changed to a different port configuration on-demand through a software interface or programmed automatically. The fibers can be re-arranged in a NxN, non-blocking manner.

Multi-tenant data center operators, and tenants in these facilities, can optimize their operational expenditures and revenue using AFM from FiberZone Networks to minimize downtime and increase service offerings.

3M has entered into a strategic business alliance with FiberZone Networks to offer the Automated Fiber Management with Latched Optical Coupling to the data center market as an authorized sales representative.

“The FiberZone Networks AFM system uniquely addresses an emerging issue in data center infrastructure management and is a perfect complement to our own growing portfolio of solutions for data centers,” said Gordon Wiegand, 3M Communication Markets Division business development manager. “3M’s global reach, combined with FiberZone Networks’ industry-first fiber management system will help data center operators worldwide facilitate the transition to cloud data management while delivering operational efficiencies.”

“3M is one of the world’s most reputable companies and we’re proud to sell our solution alongside their market-leading products to the data center market,” said Gady Rosenfeld, vice president of Business Development and Marketing at FiberZone Networks. “3M’s scale and global reach will allow us to offer our AFM system to more customers and in new markets around the world.”

3M already offers a broad and rapidly growing portfolio of solutions for data centers, including high-speed copper, fiber and active optical cabling solutions which utilize leading-edge technologies to provide flexibility, high-performance and value. Additional products from 3M for data centers include next generation, sustainable fire protection fluid; static control products and services; medium voltage cable assemblies used for data center construction and biometric security systems.

Founded in 2003, FiberZone Networks is a privately-held corporation with offices in the United States and Israel. The company is backed by international, communications-industry focused venture capital firms Novak Biddle Venture Partners and the S-Group.

FiberZone Networks’ AFM system has been deployed by leading data center and network operators in the United States, Asia and Europe. The AFM system won the prestigious Red Herring Top-100 North American award for innovative ideas and most recently was selected as one of the Top-100 Red Herring Global award winners.

Buoyant Fiber Optics

Unless you're in the industry you would not believe how much fiber optics is used in the ocean. There are many important design considerations that one doesn't have to be concerned about in normal terrestrial fiber optic deployment. One of which is buoyancy.

Learn more about what Linden Photonics is doing here.

New Cleaning Material for Fiber Optic Connectors

It's been too long since my last post and there are plenty of interesting things going on in the world of fiber optics. Check out this new material being developed by Linden Photonics to clean fiber optic connectors. This stuff is the first big advancement in cleaning technology since dirt was invented. It looks pretty cool and I can't wait to learn more.

Check out the video here

Fiber Connections receives US patent for GatorLink products

January 17, 2011

Fiber Connections Inc., a supplier of custom active and passive optical connectivity and conversion solutions, announced today that it received a US patent on its GatorLink media converters. Patent #7,837,397, officially received on Nov. 23, 2010, highlights the company’s commitment to connectivity innovation. GatorLink products provide a robust, modular option for taking optical fiber and power to a remote location for media conversion and distribution to up to 6 devices such as security cameras, wireless access points, VoIP phones and much more.

Larry Fingler, Fiber Connections President says, “Our GatorLink was based on our already successful Gator Patch products, which we patented in 1999. The rise in demand for small, flexible PoE extensions, drove us to develop the GatorLink and our entire Chameleon network solution.”

“The award of the GatorLink patent brings us to a total of 4 unique, patented products.” said Geoff Laycock, VP Sales and Marketing. “This is one more thing that confirms our commitment to technical excellence and innovation in fiber optic products.”

The GatorLink product is currently sold as either a stand-alone unit as part of a Chameleon network installation and offers a wide range of features including custom connector options and network monitoring via the Fiber Connections “Net-Map” system.

The patent statement indicates that the GatorLink is a “Digital Signal Media Conversion Panel” and the summary reads, in part:

‘A multi-port patch panel that comprises a housing, a multi-fiber optical cable input arrangement at least partially received in the housing, a plurality of media converters within the housing with each media converter having a fiber optic transceiver attached to fibers of the multi-fiber optic cable input arrangement and a plurality of connectors secured in the housing for connecting equipment to the patch panel using a conventional electrical signal connection. Each of the connectors is in communication with one of the media converters. The patch panel includes a separate power supply, connectable with the housing for providing power to the media converters.’

Fiber Connections Inc. designs and manufactures a wide range of optical connectivity, distribution and media conversion hardware. Corporate headquarters is in Schomberg, Ontario Canada with a manufacturing facility in Prince Edward Island, Canada, a US office in Manassas, VA and an EMEA office in the Netherlands.

Media Contact:

Lee Kellett

Fiber Connections

508-728-5599

800-353-1127

Lee.kellett@fiberc.com

NBN Co. inks Corning, Prysmian for Australian NBN FTTH fiber

JANUARY 17, 2010 -- NBN Co., the company established to oversee construction of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), has signed contracts with Corning Cable Systems Pty. Ltd. and Prysmian to supply fiber for the FTTH project.

The Australian arm of Corning Cable Systems received the larger deal. The company reports an initial order of AUS $400 million (US $398 million) from a contract with a potential total value of AUS $1.2 billion ($US 1.19 billion). Corning will supply its FlexNAP terminal distribution system with RPX ribbon cable for aerial installations and its ALTOS ribbon cable for underground installations.

NBN Co. granted Prysmian an initial order worth AUS $150 million (US $149 million) on a contract with a potential total value of AUS $300 million (US $298.4 million) for the supply of ribbon and other multi-fiber cables. In turn, Prysmian will invest around €10 million (US $13.3 million) to manufacture the cables at its facility in Dee Why, Australia as part of a commitment to source in Australia approximately 80% of the value of its NBN contract.

With the signing of the cabling contracts, most of the major items would appear to be in place. NBN Co. has already signed deals with Alcatel-Lucent for GPON hardware as well as with Nokia Siemens.

The controversial NBN FTTH government project aims to create an open-access fiber optic network that will pass 93 percent of Australian homes and businesses within the next 10 years. The project has so far withstood repeated attempts to either scale it back or stop it completely, and was one of the major issues in Australia’s most recent national elections.

Prysmian launches public offer for Draka shares

JANUARY 6, 2011-- The potential battle for control of Draka Holding NV is underway, as Prysmian has launched its public offer for ordinary shares of the Dutch fiber and cable manufacturer. Meanwhile, upstart bidder Tianjin Xinmao S&T Investment Corp. Ltd. asserted December 20 that it too would proceed with its proposed bid, Bloomberg and other media outlets reported. However, the company seems unexcited about the prospects of initiating a hostile takeover.

Prysmian is offering €8.60 in cash plus 0.6595 newly issued Prysmian ordinary shares for each Draka ordinary share. That equates to a total transaction value of €840 million. Xinmao, with backing from China Minsheng Banking Corp. and Rabobank, has offered an all-cash package worth €1 billion.

Prysmian’s offer is valid from today through February 3. An extraordinary meeting of Draka shareholders will take place January 26 to discuss the Prysmian offer.

Prysmian first announced that Draka had accepted its offer November 22, 2010. However, the offer contained an out clause that, for a price, would enable Draka to accept competing offers. Xinmao seized the opportunity almost immediately to announce its larger bid.

Despite the lower value of the offer, Draka has stuck with Prysmian as its preferred purchaser. “In determining its position, the Boards have also taken into consideration the positive advice received on 4 January 2011 from Draka's central works council, the current status of the discussions with Xinmao and the conditionality and execution risks attached to both the existing Offer by Prysmian and the potential offer by Xinmao,” Draka stated in a release issued yesterday.

“Draka has not received any further updates on the status of Xinmao’s potential offer since Xinmao’s press release, dated 20 December 2010,” the statement added. Bloomberg quoted Joop Krant of Catalyst Advisors, Xinmao’s financial advisor in the potential transaction, as saying Xinmao would not launch a hostile bid for Draka.