Press Releases
Development and Launch of the 1728-Fiber Air Blown WTC™
Fujikura Ltd. (President and CEO: Naoki Okada) has developed the 1728-fiber Air Blown WTC™, a new high-density optical fiber cable with a reduced diameter designed for air-blown installation. The new cable incorporates Fujikura’s proprietary 12-fiber Spider Web Ribbon™ (SWR™ *1, which enables simultaneous mass fusion splicing. Fujikura has launched the 1728-Fiber Air Blown WTC™, expanding its Wrapping Tube Cable™ (WTC™ *2) lineup of small-diameter, high-density optical fiber cables.
【Background of the Development of the 1728-Fiber Air Blown WTC™】
Ultra-high-fiber-count WTC™ have already been widely adopted inside data centers. In addition, demand for optical fiber cables is increasing for Data Center Interconnect (DCI) applications, which connect existing data centers to one another.
Fujikura has developed and commercialized Air Blown WTC™, enabling the rapid deployment of high-speed, high-capacity networks. However, as data traffic in hyperscale data centers continues to grow rapidly, demand for greater transmission capacity in data center interconnect (DCI) networks is also increasing.
In response to these market needs, Fujikura has newly developed the 1728-Fiber Air Blown WTC™.
【Features of the 1728-Fiber Air Blown WTC™】
Fujikura's 1728-Fiber Air Blown WTC™ is a small-diameter, high-density optical fiber cable designed for air-blown installation, helping customers deploy high-capacity optical networks within shorter timeframes. Leveraging the design expertise developed through the successful commercialization of the 864-Fiber Air Blown WTC™, Fujikura optimized the cable structure to achieve a highly compact design. As a result, the cable offers a smaller diameter and lighter weight than conventional outdoor SWR™/WTC™with the same fiber count, while maintaining the mechanical performance required for air-blown installation, including excellent buckling resistance.
Air-blown installation testing using microducts has also demonstrated that the cable can be installed over distances of up to 1,000 meters in a single installation.
By increasing the maximum fiber count from 864 fibers to 1,728 fibers, the new cable doubles fiber capacity while reducing the number of cables required for the same installation distance by half. This breakthrough contributes to both cost efficiency and deployment efficiency, supporting the rapid expansion of next-generation optical communication networks.
Fujikura will continue to contribute to the realization of a more advanced digital society through the development of innovative technologies and high-quality products.
Product Website: Air Blown WTC™ 48–1728F
Air Blown WTC™
Product Comparison
Schematic Diagram of Air-blown Installation
Air Blown WTC™ Product Lineup
*Spider Web Ribbon™ (SWR™) and Wrapping Tube Cable™ (WTC™) are trademarks of Fujikura Ltd.
*1 Spider Web Ribbon™ (SWR™)
A proprietary optical fiber ribbon technology developed by Fujikura. The ribbon features a unique structure in which individual optical fibers are intermittently bonded, providing exceptional flexibility. This enables high-density fiber packing within optical fiber cables, contributing to reduced cable diameter and increased fiber density.
*2 Wrapping Tube Cable™ (WTC™)
A small-diameter, high-density optical fiber cable developed by Fujikura using its proprietary technology and incorporating SWR™ (Spider Web Ribbon™). Featuring a simple structure in which optical fiber ribbons are enclosed with binder tape, WTC™ achieves a significantly smaller diameter and higher fiber density than conventional cable designs, including slotted-core structures commonly used in Japan and loose-tube structures widely used worldwide. By enabling the use of existing conduit infrastructure, WTC™ contributes to significantly shorter deployment times and more efficient network construction.
