Corning Shows New OSP Enclosures, Cable for FTTx Installations

Corning at OFC this week came out with new outside plant devices and fiber cable designed for fiber-to-the-user installations.

Most noteworthy, according to the company, is the OptiSheath Advantage Terminal, a small, oblong enclosure that sits in a neighborhood to feed fiber to four, six or eight homes. The device has preinstalled pigtails, so fusion splicing its done at network installation and the box never need be opened again. Instead, when it’s time to connect customers, the technician simply screws in the pre-connectorized drop cable and does the same at the network interface device on the customer’s home. This method, according to Corning, can result in time savings of up to 50 percent and labor cost savings of up to 40 percent, vs. traditional installation methods. Improving outside plant procedures is important given that OSP usually accounts for about 40 to 50 percent of FTTx deployment costs. The product comes in both aerial and buried versions.

Also announced this week at the fiber optics show in Los Angeles were new Corning OptiTect cabinets. One model called the FDH-SE, displayed on the show floor, separates fusion splicing from splitters and cross-connects because patching and splitting are done by different types of technicians. Splicing is located in a drawer at the bottom of the enclosure, where feeder and distribution cable are located. And in the general part of the cabinet, Corning included a “parking lot” to house fibers that are hanging if there are open ports or couplers; it just keeps those fibers out of the way of technicians.

Available now, the cabinet for FTTx has a 432-home capacity, whereas the previously-released Corning cabinet served a maximum of just 192 homes.

Corning also launched a specialized FTTx fiber optic cable at OFC. NexCor optical fiber offers more power for long reach, higher split ratios or both. Available March 1, NexCor has what’s called an improved stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold of more than 3 dB over other standard single-mode fibers, an increase that enables twice the launch power for triple play networks.

Both Optical Solutions Inc. and Quantum Bridge Communications Inc., which are optical access vendors, have validated the double power advantage of NexCor.

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