Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) today launches a year-long anniversary celebration of the company's world-changing invention of low-loss optical fiber. Corning's 1970 breakthrough made the theoretical promise of fiber-optic technology a reality and revolutionized the communications industry.
Corning kicks off the celebration at OFC/NFOEC 2010 in San Diego. In honor of the occasion, the Corning researchers responsible for the discovery-Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck-will be in attendance today at Corning's booth. Corning will also provide its perspective on the current state of the global optical fiber industry during a special panel discussion.
"The invention of low-loss optical fiber in 1970 helped launch the communications age," said Martin J. Curran, senior vice president and general manager, Corning Optical Fiber. "Today, optical-fiber innovation is as vibrant as ever. Over the past four decades, Corning has built on its groundbreaking invention by continuing to develop new fiber technologies for submarine, long-distance, enterprise, and fiber-to-the-home networks that enable faster, better, and more cost-effective communication."
In 1970, Drs. Maurer, Schultz, and Keck reported the first optical fiber with loss below 20 dB per kilometer, which demonstrated the feasibility of fiber optics for telecommunications. Corning followed that breakthrough by inventing processes to manufacture optical fiber in mass scale, enabling the deployment of low-cost, high-capacity optical transport systems that have become an integral part of our daily lives.
Today, optical fiber transmits data, voice, and video at speeds unimaginable in 1970. Corning currently offers optical fibers with a loss level of less than 0.17 dB/km, and researchers continue to develop new innovations that will enable fiber to go faster and farther than ever before.
Drs. Maurer, Schultz, and Keck will be available at Corning's booth #2141 on Tuesday, March 23 from 10 a.m. until noon PST.
Brad Boersen, director of business strategy, Corning Optical Fiber, will provide an outlook on the 2010 global optical-fiber market during the Market Watch: State of the Optical Industry panel on Tuesday, March 23 from noon until 2 p.m. Boersen will detail a worldwide optical fiber market that is now approximately 40 percent greater than at the peak of the Internet bubble in 2001.