Prysmian Group says it has supplied a 1,728-fiber cable for telecom and data center services supplier Vocus in a data center in Sydney, Australia. The fiber density is a record for a single cable, Prysmian asserts.

"This is a first for the telecommunications industry, globally," said Alex West, COO at Vocus. "As part of our commitment to building the fiber network of the new millennium, we've been trialing this Flextube fiber cable in smaller formats for three years, and to see a world first being installed now is very exciting."

Vocus, which serves customers in Australia and New Zealand, faced the challenge of having to cram as many fibers as possible into a single conduit during a "one shot" installation for a data center customer. Prysmian said it combined its Flextube fiber cable technology with its new BendBrightXS 200-µm fiber to enable the high fiber count. The new fiber enabled Prysmian to increase the Flextube cable's fiber count from a previous high of 720 to the 1,728 used in this application. The cable measures 23 mm in diameter, Prysmian says.

"One of the main benefits of this cable is the reduced cost per fiber pair," Vocus's West continued. "It costs roughly the same to install a 1,728-fiber Flextube cable as it does to install a traditional 624-fiber loose-tube cable. Using the large-fiber-count 1,728-fiber cable more than halves the cost per installed fiber. This is a great advantage in what is a very competitive market."

Source: Lightwave