i-21 Future Communication to Deploy Corning LEAF Optical Fiber in the Largest European Optical Network Ever Announced - Company Business and Marketing
Corning Incorporated, the world's leading supplier of optical fiber, and i-21 Future Communication, a subsidiary of Interoute Telecommunications and a new ultra-high bandwidth provider, announced Wednesday that the new carrier will deploy nearly eight million kilometers of advanced non-zero dispersion-shifted optical fiber (NZ-DSF) in the largest European broadband network ever announced. A minimum of 80% of the project's total NZ-DSF fiber requirements will be made up of Corning LEAF optical fiber. Corning Cables, Corning Incorporated's European cabling division, will cable approximately 50% of the total LEAF fiber being supplied to the project.
Corning LEAF fiber, an advanced NZ-DSF, allows higher levels of power to be transmitted through the fiber over a greater number of channels, while minimizing the occurrence of nonlinear effects. LEAF fiber offers bandwidth providers with the potential to increase transmission capacity, longer optical reach and increased cost efficiency.
Commenting on the i-21 contract announcement, Wendell Weeks, Corning's executive vice president, Opto Electronics, said, "Our LEAF fiber product, the most advanced fiber solution commercially available today, will provide i-21's pan-European network with the winning technological solution that will enable them to offer advanced managed bandwidth and IP-based services. It is the application of LEAF fiber within the i-21 network that makes the superior technology they are announcing today possible. This announcement makes i-21 our largest customer for LEAF optical fiber in the world, and we are pleased to officially add them to our prestigious customer list."
LEAF fiber continues to outperform other available NZ-DSFs in networks worldwide. Because of its superior benefit package, LEAF fiber quickly became the industry's fiber of choice for long distance, high-data-rate networks. And, as a result, Corning has already surpassed the two million kilometer mark in sales of LEAF fiber - less than 16 months after the product was first introduced.
According to Ohad Finkelstein, chairman and chief executive officer for Interoute, "We are building Europe's largest fiber-optic network and as a result, we required the most advanced fiber technology available today to accommodate our tremendous bandwidth requirements. Our decision to deploy Corning LEAF fiber was based on the superior technical capability that the product offers. Our LEAF fiber-based system translates into more bandwidth per fiber kilometer at less cost to i-21."
Interoute has stated that the network will be operational by May 2000 and will be 90% complete by year-end 2000. The network, which will span 20,900 route kilometers, will offer managed bandwidth and IP-based services, and will link 70 European cities and have up to 200 points of presence across Europe. The network's architecture will be comprised of a series of in-country rings, linked together in a single, seamless network - providing intra- and inter-country connectivity. When fully operational, the i-21 network will have the bandwidth capability to carry over one petabit, or 1000 terabits of traffic per second.
LEAF fiber continues to be selected as the fiber of choice by carriers worldwide. Key LEAF fiber customers to date include Carrier1, COLT Telecom Group plc, GST Telecommunications, IXC Communications, LD COM, Level 3 Communications, Williams Communications, and Worldwide Fiber. LEAF fiber also has been deployed in South America and China, among other parts of the world.
Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated (
http://www.corning.com) creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning's revenues in 1998 were $3.5 billion. More information on Corning optical fiber is available at
http://www.corningfiber.com.