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Prysmian Group – 2015 Sustainability Report
Sustainable Innovation
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Telecom
Optical cables
In the optical cables field, the Flextube family of cables has been found to the more efficient technology for
optimising and reducing the size of cables with a very large number of fibres, due to such success factors as
the combination of the flextube micro-module technology with that of BBXS fibres with a diameter of 200
microns.
The number of fibres contained in this family of cables, usually employed in large data centres, has
increased from 1,728 to 2,112: with a diameter of 23 mm, the cable with 1,728 fibres represents an absolute
record in terms of density.
In addition, new Nano cables have been developed by assembling micro-tubes with 200 micron BBXS fibres.
Density has been increased and the diameter of the tubes in which these cables are installed has been
decreased considerably by use of a 'blowing' technology. The result is a marked reduction in the space
occupied.
Lastly, ribbon cable production at the Dee Why factory in Australia has been further developed using dry
technology and small diameters. On the other hand, the Lexington factory in the United States has
introduced a 36 fibre ribbon as the basic component for cables with a central tube containing 864 fibres, for
external use.
Optical fibre
Intensive work has continued on the development of optical fibre products and processes using mono-modal
and multi-modal technology.
In the field of mono-modal optical fibres, various Group factories have been equipped for the full-scale
production of BendBright
XS
(BBXS) fibres, which are resistant to bending and whose micro and macro-
bending performance is much better than that of competing products. In fact, bending performance and
reduced diameter are key factors that allow the production of smaller cables for use in the various layers of
FTTH networks. Multiple improvements have also been made at factory level, resulting in a marked reduction
in the product cost of these fibres.
With regard to multi-modal optical fibres, on the other hand, the WideCAP OM4 fibre remains unique in the
market, confirming the Prysmian Group's leadership in this sector. Indeed, the international standardisation
committees have adopted this fibre in record time, thus allowing a reduction in the wiring required for 40, 100
and 400 Gb/s communications in data centres.
Lastly, the Few Mode fibre technology represents another innovation. As with the mono-mode technology, in
which digital information is codified and propagated on a single luminous mode, using the Few Mode
technology several luminous modes are able to transmit the digital information. These fibres are likely to find
applications in data centres and telecom networks.
THE "ITALY SHOWS ITS TRUE FIBRE" CAMPAIGN PROMOTES ITALIAN OPTICAL FIBRES
The Prysmian Group launched its "Italy shows its true fibre" communications campaign in September 2015. The
objective was to relaunch the production of optical fibres in Italy and support the development plans for the country's new
ultra-broadband telecommunications networks. The fibre, manufactured by Prysmian in Italy and used to link