INSIGHT ISSUE 02 | 2020

26 Enabling the Digital and Energy transition A brief history of BENDBRIGHT Doing Business D raka, currently part of the Prysmian Group, first came up with the concept of bend-insensitive fibres. A ring of refractive glass material with a lower index – an ‘optical trench’ – allows for better light confinement, regardless of the condition of the fibre. As a result, fibres can be bent in unprecedented small radii without significant loss. This type of fibre is also very forgiving of any imperfections during installation. Bend-Insensitive cables can be used to make on-premise installations easier, develop microcables, create lightweight high fibre count cables for the outside plant, and realize cables with very high fibre counts. Of course, these advanced fibres would have been difficult to market if they couldn’t be used with existing cable types and networks. Draka were quick to realize this and had already been experimenting with Slim Fibre, BendBright’s predecessor, in 2000. In 2005 the first patent related to BendBright technology was filed. This patent specifically mentions a backward compatibility requirement (see box on page 29). BendBright was introduced in 2005 as the standard fibre in all Draka Comteq drop cables, followed by BendBright ® XS in 2006. A team of R&D experts from Draka (in Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Marcoussis and Douvrin, France) were the first to foresee that bend insensitivity would be a key feature of future access networks.