Urband to put Pirelli cables in London sewers

Pirelli Telecom Cables and Systems has been awarded a contract for the latest addition to its Rapier range of "micro-sheath" optical fibre cables by Urband.

Pirelli Telecom Cables and Systems has been awarded a contract for the latest addition to its Rapier range of "micro-sheath" optical fibre cables by Urband, the joint venture between Thames Water and 186k, the telecomms business of Lattice Group.

The Rapier 432-fibre cable is the most recent development in Pirelli's highly successful Rapier family, which offers fibre counts from 48 through to the new 432-fibre cable design.

They incorporate Pirelli's unique high performance self-coloured Neon single-mode fibres and the latest dry filling technologies.

In what is the world's first installation of this unique, high-specification design, Urband is installing the Rapier 432-fibre cable as the core of its new optical broadband network, currently being rolled out within Thames Water's existing sewer infrastructure.

Stephen Chivers, Urband's Operations Director, said: "The new Rapier cable will form the backbone of our network.

We chose Pirelli for its pedigree, its extensive portfolio of optical passive network solutions and the flexibility this particular cable gives us for the future in supporting different types of network infrastructure and customer applications".

Urband offers wholesale services for Central London to a clearly defined target market of around 150 companies, including operators, building local exchange carriers, service providers and systems integrators, enabling them to meet the "last mile" connectivity needs of major businesses in London.

The Rapier range of cables has been specifically designed for deployment in metropolitan networks where access for customer connections is likely to be required every few hundred metres.

The innovative design features of Rapier cables make them highly attractive for fast installation, easy breakout and maximising network flexibility to rapidly service new customers.

"These features were a major factor in our choice.

Our network is being designed to offer flexibility to our customers.

The solutions that Pirelli provides are enabling us to achieve our goals", added Chivers.

Other advantages of the Rapier 432-fibre - which will be blown through ducting attached to sewer walls - are the high fibre count achieved inside a very small diameter package, ensuring optimum use of available duct space.

Development of the Rapier 432-fibre product by Pirelli took place in co-operation with Urband, whose engineers visited the Pirelli test facility at the Newport, S Wales plant for demonstrations and testing.

Chris Pollock, European Market Development Director, said: "We worked closely with Urband specifically to meet its application needs in the metropolitan environment.

The contract augments our existing relationship, supplying end-to-end passive optical network equipment for this exciting new project".

To date, Pirelli has delivered a range of optical cables, optical joints and other optical connectivity products to Urband, providing patching and splicing capabilities within the central node of the Urband network.

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