By way of the 2009 economic stimulus act, the $795 million in grants and loans funded will create 5,000 construction and installation jobs. Along with achieving $200 million in associated private investment; according to information provided by the White House.

“We’re moving forward” in the creation of a twenty-first century economy, Obama said. “Studies have shown” that such an investment can eventually “lead to hundreds of thousands of new jobs.” It will also accelerate the country’s switch to a “smarter, stronger, more secure electrical grid.”

Many will benefit from the investment. It is noted that over 685,000 businesses, 900 health care facilities and 2,400 schools in all of the 50 states will gain from the government’s investment. All of which is according to a White House document.

The money will bring broadband services to communities that “currently have little or no access, to help them better compete and do business in the global marketplace,” the document said.

The advantages of this investment are abundant and will benefit numerous people within the United States.

To see this article in full, you can find it at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/01/obama.broadband.connection/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

“Monday the government would make a series of low-interest loans to telecommunications groups, to encourage them to develop fiber-optic networks outside major cities.” states Prime Minister Francois Fillon. “We are at the dawn of the era of high-speed Internet and fiber-optic networks.”

To boost productivity, the French governement wants to dispense high-speed internet connections in to minor cities and rural territories.

“Under the proposed system, telecommunications groups France Telecom SA, Vivendi SA’s SFR and Iliad will be encouraged to invest together to build out local fiber networks.” said Mr. Fillon

11% of French homes have access to a fiber connection, but essentially few of the households have joined the service, according to Taylor Reynolds, an economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“The government is betting its €2 billion of funds will encourage operators to pump between €6 billion and €7 billion into France’s fiber networks.” proclaims Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the minister responsible for the development of the digital economy

The €2 billion loan is part of a wider national loan program yeilding €35 billion, which includes €4.5 billion designated for information and communications projects.

To view the full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004575011113378158220.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

“Technological advances in fiber optics are assuring the migration of fiber closer and closer to the end user which then translates into demand for shorter and shorter links including board-to-board interconnects where connectors represent a substantial share of the total cable assembly and packaging cost,” said Stephen Montgomery, President of International Business at ElectroniCast Consultants.

The global fiber optic connector and mechanical splice consumption in 2008 was US$1.658 billion. The consumption value will increase with strongly rising quantity growth partially offset by declining average prices; however, due to the multi-industry worldwide economic crisis, the forecast is relatively flat for 2009.  By the year 2013, the worldwide consumption value is forecast to reach $2.5 billion.

To view this report in further detail, you can access it at:

 http://www.electronicastconsultants.com/files/4002.NEWS.RELEASE.December.29.2009.doc

For interested purchasers of fiber optic connectors:

http://www.precisionfiberproducts.com/ccp0-catshow/FiberOpticConnectors.html

For interested purchasers of fiber optic mechanical splice cleavers:

http://www.precisionfiberproducts.com/ccp0-prodshow/MillerFOCleaver.html

http://www.precisionfiberproducts.com/ccp0-prodshow/MillerCleaver.html

Replacement Cleaver Blades:

http://www.precisionfiberproducts.com/ccp0-catshow/ReplacementBlades.html

Splicer Electrodes:

http://www.precisionfiberproducts.com/ccp0-catshow/SplicerElectrodes.html

“Telecommunications providers in Haiti will continue through the weekend to try to accommodate the enormous demand for phone and broadband services,” says USA Today’s David Lieberman. Lieberman has also made the statement that, “The earthquake could accelerate demand for wireless and satellite communications.”

Yet, there is possible hope along the way. Free two minute phone calls by way of satellite to anyplace is planned to be set up in Port-au-Prince. This will give Haitians who are in need to contact others the chance to do so. That is if they can get pass the rubble in the streets that have made it hard to travel place to place.

After monumental natural catastrophes, “Countries don’t have many alternatives, or the resources to build a new infrastructure,” Jay Yass; vice president of network services at Intelsat, has stated. “Satellite is able to be rapidly deployed.”

We hope to see Satellite becoming effective in helping those in Haiti to serve their demands. This earthquake has left the people effected in need of many services, so let us hope to see this service being fulfilled.

To view the full article, you can go to http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-01-14-haiti-phones-quake_N.htm.

“The most surprising aspect for me is how simple it actually is to create artificial event horizons,” Leonhardt told LiveScience.

He and his colleagues detailed their findings in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.

It seems that the utilization and applications for fiber optics are limitless!

Source: http://www.foxnews.com

New technology has allowed us to create a more dense and precise diamond polishing film which outlasts current formulations, with the same competitive pricing as standard brands. Longer cycle life without higher costs will help many of our customers reach their cost reduction goals!

Tested in the lab and on the production line our new Ultra High Density Diamond Polishing Film produces up to 50 polishing cycles per sheet.

Recent feedback from one of our customers about our Polishing Film:

“Looks like the line is performing well with the process you recommended. They are getting 99.6% first pass yield so far !!!!”

“We have improved output with less film, 50 cycles and counting!”

We are so confident that this product will outlast other brands and produce higher yields per sheet we are sending free samples to those qualifying who would like to see the results for themselves.

Request your free sample pack here.

Nearly eight million Japanese have a fiber optic line at home that is as much as 30 times speedier than a typical DSL line.

Matteo Bortesi, a technology consultant at Accenture in Tokyo, compared the fiber optic push to the Shinkansen bullet-train network in the 1960s, when profit was secondary to the need for faster travel.

“They want to be the first country to have a full national fiber network, not unlike the Shinkansen years ago, even though the return on investment is unclear.”

“The Japanese think long-term,” Mr. Bortesi added. “If they think they will benefit in 100 years, they will invest for their grandkids. There’s a bit of national pride we don’t see in the West.”

And while acknowledging that initial investments are expensive, N.T.T. and KDDI, the second-largest phone company, expect to recoup some of their money by selling additional products, like Internet phone and television services, that are delivered over fiber lines. They also expect electronics companies to produce an array of products that rely on fiber networks, including high-definition videoconferencing equipment and medical devices that can instantly relay X-rays between hospitals.

“The cost of installing the service will continue to go down by leaps and bounds,” said Kazuhiko Ogawa, general manager of the network strategy section at N.T.T. “In the future, we will establish a lot of alliances and applications that will combine stability and reliability.”

Seems Japan is recognizing that fiber optic networks will be the mainstay of future economic growth.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/

“Worldwide, we expect double-digit growth rates in fiber-optic cable demand the next few years,” says Richard Mack of KMI Research/CRU, a London-based research firm.

One of the key reasons stated for the unprecedented growth in the industry has been the boom in moving video and audio files via the Internet, which increases the demand mainly from companies that are connecting houses and apartments to existing fiber-optic lines.

About 1.3 million U.S. households, or 1.3% of all, were connected directly to fiber-optic lines in July, according to the Fiber-to-the-Home Council, a trade group. That number has grown to about 2% of households since then and could reach 25% within three years, says David St. John, spokesman for the group.

Demand for cable is also high in China and India, which industry experts forecast will grow 20% in the next year. All in all, good news for the fiber optics industry.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3641179

But don’t get to excited staff writer Sam Scott of StarNews.com mentions:

“But a couple of 90-degree corners and the signal is lost. The pulses of light that carry information through the glass strands travel in straight lines, a big problem in the nooks and crannies of high-rise apartments where copper’s flexibility is often still the best option.”

“Corning’s new invention keeps light on track even when the fiber is coiled tightly around a pen, as company representatives demonstrated Wednesday at the company’s Wilmington plant on North College Road.”

We could be on the brink of major developments in the residential sector of the fiber optic industry.

“This has the potential to be very large,” said Wendell Weeks, Corning’s chief executive officer.

Hold on tight as we all look forward to a prosperous future!

One news source reports:

“When Henry Powderly II ordered Verizon Communications Inc.’s FiOS fiber-optic service, he knew he was about to be connected to the future of telecommunications.

He also got unplugged from its past. Which meant that while Powderly was gaining features, he was losing some telecommunications options.

Verizon’s installer – without warning, Powderly says – removed the copper wires that used to carry his phone calls. For most of the world, copper still links homes and businesses, as it has for a century.

Verizon’s new high-bandwidth fiber lines are fully capable of carrying not only calls but also Internet data and television with room to grow. But once the copper is pulled, it’s difficult to switch back to the traditional phone system or less expensive Digital Subscriber Line service. And Verizon isn’t required, in most instances, to lease fiber to rival phone companies, as it is with the copper infrastructure.”

As reported above the copper infrastructure will one day be replaced by a more efficient more powerful “fiber line system”. What a boon for the fiber optics industry!

The article continues:

“The New York phone company has made it clear its entire network is going to fiber-optics. Verizon has decided to spend $23 billion to make fiber available to 18 million homes by 2010. Network maintenance savings could top $1 billion a year, Verizon said.”

While AT&T Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. are also retiring their copper networks, they’re not touching the so-called “last mile” of copper wiring that runs from each customer’s dwelling to the central office where other lines aggregate. Laying fiber, a robust pipeline, through the last mile is much more expensive because each line goes to a particular home or business.

Verizon is taking the pricey route because it believes fiber offers a superior service that will lure customers away from cable operators, who now offer telephone service in addition to television and high-speed Internet.”

All in the fiber optic industry will benefit by the transition from a copper based infrastructure to a optic fiber infrastructure at the residential level! Just a bit of good news we thought we would share. We will keep you posted.

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VERIZON_CUTTING_COPPER