Prysmian Group has opened a new category of optical fiber with the launch of its BendBrightXS 180µm (BBXS-180µm) fiber. As the name implies, the bend-insensitive single-mode fiber features a diameter of 180 µm, slightly narrower than the wave of 200-µm fibers that have reached the market over the past several years.
The narrower fiber will enable higher-count cables, Prysmian points out. The company has yet to announce the fiber counts it intends to offer using BBXS-180µm. However, high-fiber-count cables that leverage bend-insensitive fiber can make installing a large number of fiber strands faster and more cost-effective versus more traditional fiber cables.
Operators have begun to embrace the recent generation of high-fiber-count cables based on 200-µm fibers, including Prysmian’s BendBrightXS 200µm (see "Prysmian ships 1,728-fiber cable for Australian data center"). Such fibers offered a significant reduction in diameter versus conventional 250-µm fibers; the 180-µm width offers nearly a 50% smaller size than those conventional fibers. Prysmian adds that BBXS-180µm is fully compliant with G.652 and G.657.A2 global standards and can be spliced with legacy standard single-mode fibers.
“Leveraging its proprietary BendBrightXS technology, Prysmian is reaching a new milestone in fiber miniaturization,” asserted Philippe Vanhille, executive vice president Telecom Business at Prysmian Group. “BBXS-180µm will enable cable designers to offer strongly reduced cable dimensions and yield industry-record cable density.”
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