Berk-Tek and Ortronics/Legrand Launch Interactive Tool for Simplifying Calculation of Maximum Allowable Cable Plant Loss for 10 Gbps Fiber Optic Systems

New Holland, PA and New London, CT (August 24, 2006) - Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company, and Ortronics/Legrand simplify structured cabling system planning through their innovative fiber optic cable plant loss budget calculator. Moving beyond simple attenuation and insertion loss considerations, this revolutionary tool demonstrates the advantages of utilizing state-of-the-art; low differential mode delay (DMD) optical fiber coupled with reduced modal noise connections.  
 
Berk-Tek's and Ortronics' NetClear MM10 fiber solution effectively reduces Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) penalties associated with high speed transmission systems such as 10GBASE-SR. 10GBASE-SR is the IEEE standard for cost-effective multimode 10 Gbps Ethernet operating at the economical 850 nm wavelength.  
 
"Taking advantage of these technologies provides significant increases in the cable plant loss budget, allowing additional insertion loss headroom, critically important for today's most advanced 10 Gbps systems," stated Todd Harpel, director of marketing, Berk-Tek. "Through extensive research and testing in our data communication competency centers, Berk-Tek and Ortronics/Legrand are introducing an exciting new tool to simplify the design process for system designers, consultants, and end-users who are creating today�s most advanced enterprise networks," Harpel adds.  
 
Relying upon the exceptional Differential Mode Delay (DMD) characteristics of 50�m laser optimized multimode fibers (LOMF) such as Berk-Tek�s GIGAlite-10 and GIGAlite-10XB, a portion of the loss penalty reserved by the IEEE for Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) can be reassigned to the channel's total allowable cable and connection loss budget. "This improvement in budget translates into higher pass/fail limits and/or flexible systems with additional connector mated pairs such as those found in pre-terminated 'ready to connect systems' such as the Ortronics Momentum� cassette-based system," says Mike Hines, director of Fiber systems and products, Ortronics/Legrand. "This plug-in and go approach is significant in the design of data centers where there are short link length requirements, a need for rapid installation, and frequent moves, adds and changes," Hines continued.  
 
This groundbreaking cable plant loss calculator was developed with simplicity and user-friendliness in mind. The Microsoft� Excel� based tool can be downloaded from the NetClear website (www.netclear-channel.com). This is the first and only tool available today that informs the user whether a specific cable and connector configuration can reliably support 10 Gbps Ethernet (10G BASE-SR).