In the 30+ years that air-blown fiber (ABF) has been deployed in North America, industry results show that it is the ideal installation technology in specific scenarios. Yuko Agano, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s product manager supporting air-blown fiber and cable technologies, returns to this episode of Fiber Focus to outline installations where ABF can deliver better installation speed, labor savings, and future-readiness than traditional deployment methods – especially for network operators who place value on being able to keep their facilities up and running without disruption during network expansions and upgrades.

Is ABF uniquely positioned to deliver the strongest ROI for your next project? Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s engineers can help. Tune in to this conversation to learn more and check out the resources in our show notes.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
Contact Us: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/contact-us/
FutureFLEX® Air-Blown Fiber®:
https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product-category/futureflex-air-blown-fiber-solutions/
Yuko on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuko-agano-504927106/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave 

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave offers a broad portfolio of leading-edge connectivity products and solutions, but how does the company respond when customers need a unique solution for their network challenges that industry manufacturers are not yet prepared to meet? In this episode of Fiber Focus, Josh Seawell, our director of product management, shares stories of recent customer collaborations that have sparked innovative products and solutions. These new developments often evolve to benefit customers far beyond the initial collaboration. Tune in to this conversation to learn more.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
Contact Us: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/contact-us/
Regional Sales Managers: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/regional-managers/
Tradeshow Schedule: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/tradeshow-schedule/
Josh on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-seawell-09770979/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave7062

Many of the products in Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s portfolio were brought to life through customer collaboration. Greg Pierce, senior product manager for Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s connectivity products, is back to describe a lean, efficient rack-mount panel offering as an example of customer-driven innovation. Designed hand-in-hand with enterprise customers, our 1RU-3RU panels delivered on their need for lower-cost hardware in protected, out-of-the-way closets, corners, and colocation facilities. Without sacrificing on quality or technician-friendless, these products are now available for all of our customers to consider as part of their network planning. Tune in to this conversation and check out our show notes to learn more.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
1RU LGX Compact Patch Panel: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product/1ru-lgx-compact-patch-panel/
2RU Flush Mount Panels: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product/2ru-flush-mount-panels/
2RU High Density Panels and Interconnect  Panels/Bulkheads: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product/2ru-high-density-panels-and-interconnect-panels-bulkheads/ 
Rack-Mounted Splice Enclosure: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product/rack-mounted-splice-enclosure/
Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-pierce-4b977b10/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave

In this episode of Fiber Focus, Teylor Bremekamp, PMP, RCDD, discusses his path from aerospace engineering to becoming a fiber network design engineer with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave. Teylor’s 10 years of industry experience have led him to consider the imperative of bringing more people into the industry to step into ever-increasing telecom jobs. While many of these roles are highly specialized, the industry itself is broad with positions ranging from Big Tech to manufacturing and installations. Some of these jobs require a college degree or hands-on experience, and others support at-home or on-the-job learning. Teylor details a few of the paths that people can take to find their own way into one of the rapidly growing industry jobs. Tune in to this conversation to learn more.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
BICSI: https://www.bicsi.org/
Sumitomo Electric Industries Careers: https://sumitomoelectric.com/careers
Teylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teylor-bremekamp-pmp-rcdd-271aa713b/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave

Air-blown fiber® and microduct cable have a few things in common, but they are not the same. In this episode of Fiber Focus, Yuko Agano, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s product manager supporting air-blown fiber, breaks down the differences between these products. In contrast to the conventional method of pulling cable through conduits, both air-blown fiber and microduct cable are blown through conduits using air pressure. Another similarity is that both of these air-blown technologies speed deployment, minimize downtime, and optimize conduit space. The key differences between these technologies are the products themselves, the pathways and blowing equipment they use, and the maximum fiber count and distance that they can be deployed. Ultimately these differences factor in to the decision of which air-blown technology is right for the customer’s next project.

Tune in to this conversation to learn more.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave 

Josh Seawell, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s director of product management, returns to Fiber Focus for a conversation about splicing 200 micron pliable fiber optic ribbon cable. Given its role in enabling the AI Boom and solving for space limitations within data center footprints, 200 micron fiber adoption will continue to surge. For splice technicians, that translates to projects where they could be splicing either the conventional 250 micron fibers or the more compact 200 micron fibers on any given day – or they could be splicing the two fiber sizes together. Fortunately, fusion splicing equipment is evolving right along with cable innovations. A variety of fusion splicers on the market enable 250 and 200 micron splicing, but they are not all created equal. Sumitomo Electric’s Q102-M12+ fusion splicer offers benefits and features that other splicers do not. Tune in to this conversation to learn more.
 
Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
Q102-M12+ Overview: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product/q102-m12-plus
Customer Testimonial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZC1jtclzMM
Josh on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-seawell-09770979/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave7062

Starting with the first loose tube fiber optic cable of the 1970s, Loren Rapp, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s product line manager for fiber optic cable, highlights the key drivers in the evolution of cable design. Initial designs focused on providing protection for fibers being pulled in long-haul applications – either by hand across land or by boat in oceanic deployments – to enable telephone and fax services. The industry has come a long way from offering plain old telephone service (POTS), and fiber optic cable manufacturers have enabled every step of this evolution. Many of today’s cables are designed to pack more fiber in less conduit or ladder rack space for AI and machine learning applications. Some of the cable types discussed in this Fiber Focus episode include tight-buffered, central tube/slotted core, monotube, and microcable. Tune in to this conversation to learn more.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
Optical Fiber Cable Solutions: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product-category/optical-fiber-cable-solutions/
Loren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loren-vitter-rapp-a268a61a/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave7062

Not all fiber optic patch panels are built the same. Greg Pierce, senior product manager for Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s connectivity products, dives into the reasons why one customer may choose a fully factory-connectorized “plug and play” solution and another would opt for an empty “no bells, no whistles” panel. Pre-connectorization comes with many advantages: high-quality work completed in a clean factory environment, fewer splice points overall with their accompanying dB loss, and savings in terms of on-site installation time and labor costs. The case for pre-connectorization often grows as the network’s fiber density grows; a hyper-scale data center bill of materials is more likely to list custom pre-terminated patch panels and an enterprise customer is more likely to order budget-friendly LGX compact patch panels. Fortunately, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave offers both ends of the spectrum, everything in between, and all the accessories. Tune in to this conversation to learn more.

Fiber Focus is a Sumitomo Electric Lightwave podcast. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Episode Links
PrecisionFlex® Pre-Stubbed Patch Panels: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/product/precisionflex-pre-stubbed-patch-panels/
Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-pierce-4b977b10/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly

Connect with Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
Website: https://sumitomoelectriclightwave.com/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@sumitomoelectriclightwave7062

In this inaugural episode of Fiber Focus, Josh Seawell, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s director of product management, makes the case for embracing change when it comes to pliable fiber optic ribbon cables. Acknowledging that technology adoption can come with some fear, uncertainty, and doubt, Josh shows how easy it is to navigate pliable ribbon’s almost-flat learning curve. Even better, it comes with a steep payoff related to deployment time, labor costs, and space savings. Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s pliable ribbon cable, offered globally by the name Freeform Ribbon™, is 12x faster to splice vs. single-fiber splicing and delivers 2x the fiber count in the same diameter as traditional ribbon cables.

Tune in to this conversation to learn more. Subscribe, share this episode, and follow Sumitomo Electric Lightwave on LinkedIn and X.

Freeform Ribbon™ Overview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a408RwpXaUk
Josh on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-seawell-09770979/
Meredyth on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meredythneilly