OFS Announces Verizon has Selected Its EZ-Bend(TM) Optical Technology to Support MDU FIOS Deployments

New Technology Can Improve Bending Performance by up to 500 times to Help Speed Deployment and Lower Installation Costs

OFS today announced that Verizon Communications Inc. will be purchasing and installing OFS' EZ-Bend(TM) multiple dwelling unit (MDU) drop cable in their MDU FIOS applications. OFS' ground-breaking EZ-Bend Technology will satisfy Verizon's critical need for fast and economical fiber deployments in their MDU installations by allowing cables to be bent and routed in ways never before feasible using traditional optical drop cables.

"The benefits of bringing fiber to the MDU were apparent to Verizon with higher bandwidths than copper wiring," said William Kloss, OFS Executive VP of Marketing & Sales, North Americas & CALA. "We needed to create a new technology to make reaching customers faster and more cost effective for Verizon or any service provider deploying fiber drop cables to apartments and condominiums. The EZ-Bend Technology offers up to a 500-fold improvement in bending loss performance over conventional single-mode fiber (SMF) type cables under the tight bends routinely encountered in MDU and in-residence installations. This means the optical signal will not leak in tight bends so that ultra high speed video, internet, and voice services can be reliably delivered to customers. The benefit for Verizon and other service providers is lower labor, higher velocity installations to help reach customers faster with lower cost."

About EZ-Bend Technology

OFS' patent pending EZ-Bend Technology is the first which targets MDU applications and provides <0.1 dB/turn bending loss performance at 1550 nm using a solid glass fiber construction, while being fully splice and performance compatible with typical installed fibers. The solid glass construction of EZ-Bend technology fiber enables the use of conventional fusion splicing equipment, conventional connector mounting and conventional connector cleaning processes. A robust patent pending optical cable design helps protect the optical fiber from being kinked or crushed.

A live EZ-Bend Technology demonstration will be featured at the OFS booth #315 at the FTTH Conference & Expo, September 27th - October 1st 2009 in Houston, Texas.

About OFS

OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTX, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products. Our manufacturing and research divisions work together to provide innovative products and solutions that traverse many different applications as they link people and machines worldwide. Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods, and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components for efficient, cost-effective transmission.

OFS' corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and included technology powerhouses such as AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications.

Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta) Georgia, U.S., OFS is a global provider with facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia.

For more information, please visit www.ofsoptics.com.

Sherry Salyer, OFS Public Relations, +1-770-798-4210, Mobile: +1-678-296-7034,
shsalyer@ofsoptics.com

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