AUGUST 12, 2009 -- Intertek (search Lightwave for Intertek), a supplier of testing, inspection, and certification services, announced an expansion of scope for its fiber-optic components certification services. Intertek's Lexington, KY lab, a Verizon-certified Independent Test Laboratory (ITL) under Verizon's Fiber Optic Component (FOC) Program, can now provide GR-20-CORE and GR-409-CORE testing. The standards cover optical fiber, optical fiber cables, and premises fiber-optic cables.
Intertek tests safety, reliability, and performance of fiber-optic components including connectors, fiber cables, fiber distribution frames, splice closures, pedestals, and indoor/outdoor fiber cabinets. FOC testing includes geometric tolerances, mechanical testing (vibration, shock, seismic, etc.), fiber integrity (tensile loading, fiber flex, and twist testing), environmental (thermal cycling, thermal shock, life aging), and chemical exposure testing (gaseous airborne contaminants, salt spray).
The Lexington lab is already approved to test to GR-13-CORE (Pedestal Terminal Closure); GR-771-CORE (Fiber Optic Splice Closures); and GR-765-CORE (Single Fiber Single-Mode Optical Splices and Splicing Systems).
"The addition of the GR-20-CORE and GR-409-CORE to Intertek's list of approved FOC standards allows manufacturers of fiber-optic cables and components to shorten their time-to-market by consolidating testing of their entire fiber-optic/OSP [outside plant] product line at Intertek," says Keith Kuhn, general manager, Intertek.
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