FURUKAWA ELECTRIC UNVEILS FIRST
HAND-HELD CORE ALIGNMENT FUSION SPLICER
- FITEL® Design Cuts Size Nearly in Half -

The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., (FEC) announced today it now offers the industry's first hand-held core alignment fusion splicer designed for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTh/FTTx) and LAN installations as well as trunk line installations. The FITEL S177A is the most compact, lightweight core alignment splicer available today.

At half the size of a conventional unit, the FITEL S177A delivers the automated functionality and accuracy necessary for conventional backbone or long-haul installations along with the portability and speed needed for challenging field installations such as FTTh, FTTx and LAN.

The new hand-held FITEL S177A incorporates an improved heating design that cuts splice-to-heat time by 40 percent, achieving a 9-second splice time and 37-second heat time.The unit's T-shaped body design is also 40 percent lighter, weighing only 2.2Kg (4.85 pounds) including battery. Ideal for fast field use, the S177A reduces the fiber length required for splicing by 30 percent. In addition, fiber magnification power is 608X, marking the industry's most powerful rating for a core alignment splicer.

"Core alignment splicers have long been the preferred method for CATV installations, backbone networks, specialty fiber applications, and optical components manufacturing largely because of their high accuracy and reliability,"said Tsuremi Hino, manager of fusion splicer products for FEC. "The portability of the S177A brings the benefits of core alignment to the growing construction of fiber-to-the-home and other constrained fiber optic cable installations."

Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. (www.furukawa.co.jp/english), is a $7 billion global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of fiber optic products, electronics components, power cables, nonferrous metals, and other advanced technology products. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, FEC operates production facilities on five continents around the globe.