Thursday 1 March 2012

Happy 30th Birthday, Fibercore Ltd

Fibercore Ltd started its life in 1982 as a Spin-out from the World-renowned Optical Fiber Group of the University of Southampton (UK). Its role was to commercialise the innovations in specialty optical fibers developed at Southampton. Beginning in 1982 with a spun Lo-Bi fiber developed for Faraday-effect current-sensors and with the now World-famous HiBi Bow-Tie Polarization Maintaining Fiber following very soon afterwards, Fibercore has introduced a continuous stream of innovative specialty fibers over the last three decades:


1982 Spun Low-Birefringence Fiber
1983 Bow-Tie Polarization Maintaining Fiber
1986 'Zing' Polarizing Fiber
1987 Neodymium Doped Fiber
1988 Erbium Doped Fiber
1989 Spun Bow-Tie, Elliptically-Birefringent Fiber
1993 Erbium-Ytterbium Co-Doped Fiber
1998 Intrinsically Photosensitive Boron Co-Doped Fiber
1999 Pure-Silica, 'Cladding Pump' Rare-Earth Doped Fiber
2002 50 µm, Low-Loss and Highly Bend-Insensitive SM Fiber
2009 Pure-Silica core SM Fiber for use in UV
2010 Re-introduction of improved Polarizing Fiber
2012 Re-introduction of improved Spun Bow-Tie, Elliptically-Birefringent Fiber



The reality is that Fibercore was active in the Specialty Optical Fiber Market long before that market really existed, introducing many products well before their 'time' - as testified by the recent re-introduction of both Zing Polarizing Fiber and Spun Bow-Tie, which now benefit from both growing markets and a further 20 years of development of the underlying technology.




Its recent divestiture from Cisco means that Fibercore starts its third decade as an Independent Company, with the freedom to really push forward the boundaries of the technologies that truly benefit its customers in Aerospace, Metrology, Telecoms Components, Defense, Fundamental Research ..., making full use of the expertise and experience that Fibercore has been known for since the very beginning. Fibercore's team of seasoned Specialty Fiber Professionals, with a 'core' that has remained with the Company since the 1990s and with some members offering more than 25 years of high-level experience in the Industry, ensure that we deliver a level of customer service and both pre- and post-sale technical support that is second to none.
Our fibers are used in an incredibly broad range of applications spread throughout more than 50 countries around the Globe including fiber optic gyroscopes (FOGs), fiber optic hydrophones, fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), embedded sensors, specialist medical, government and corporate research agencies and telecommunications components.




Throughout our 30 year history, we have had the privilege to track and support many of our customers from their earliest research, right through to the high-volume, but still 'specialised' manufacturing that now makes up 90% of our business. This breadth of experience, together with our singularity of purpose and diversity of our customer base enabled us to continue to grow and prosper, throughout both the Telecoms Crash of 2001 and the Credit Crunch that began in 2007 and is still with us to this day.




The move to Fibercore House, the Company's purpose-designed R&D and Manufacturing Facility, in 2003 increased our manufacturing capabilities ten-fold and enabled us to introduce 'World-Class Manufacturing' philosophies to what was traditionally viewed as a scaled-up laboratory process. The total shipments of fiber from Fibercore House now average more that 1,300,000 m per month - a figure believed to be higher than that of any other 'specialty' fiber manufacturer anywhere in the World and providing Fibercore Limited with unmatched experience in the volume manufacture of highly-specified 'Specialty' Fiber. The Company's current share of the PM fiber for gyroscopes market is estimated to be in excess of 95%, with major OEMs in the United States, France, Germany, Korea, Italy and Japan.




Alongside the development of new technology, Fibercore has been the forerunner for companies in the industry to gain formal, third-part certification for its business processes, achieving ISO9001 (Quality) in 1993 and applying Telcordia™ (Bellcore) reliability testing to all of its product lines since 2000. More recently, these standards have been joined by ISO14001 (Environment) and OHSAS18001 (Health and Safety) certification and we ensure that all products comply with RoHS and REACH requirements.




In 2001 the Company was presented with the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (the UK's highest business honour) and was assessed to be the Country's most successful manufacturing business by the presigious Experian Survey. Since then the Company has been awarded three additional Queen's Awards for Enterprise: Innovation in 2004, and both International Trade and Sustainable Development in 2007, making Fibercore Limited the only company ever to have won these awards in all three categories.




The recent expansion of the Development Team and the introduction of new photonics engineers into our skill base enables us to continue our commitment to the future of the specialist fiber industry. With the renewed interest in current sensors, development is well underway on the new 'Spun' fiber and recent improvements to our already established IsoGain™ erbium doped amplifier fiber have strengthened our position in the amplifier marketplace. All this means that Fibercore goes from strength to strength, and we will continue to support our customers and the industry for the next 30 years, and beyond.

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