Furukawa Electric invests R$ 30 million to produce new fiber optic technologies in Brazil

Japanese multinational company, a leader in communication solutions, also opens a new factory for optical connectivity production.


Furukawa Electric LatAm enters Year 50 of Brazil anticipating, once again, the needs of an increasingly connected society. The Japanese multinational company invested more than R$ 30 million to inaugurate national production units for new fiber optic technologies, which were previously only produced in Japan and the United States.

Within the company’s current factory, established in the country since 1974, the company inaugurates a cable production line with Rollable Ribbon optical fiber technology, which is unprecedented in the country because it is characterized as a more compact and flexible cable that allows higher density, i.e., more fibers in the same space. 

In parallel, the company also inaugurates a new industrial plant, Furukawa Industrial Optoelectronics (FIO), as an annex to its current factory. FIO, a sustainable enterprise that generates its own electricity through more than 700 solar panels, will concentrate the production of optical connectivity and state-of-the-art solutions for neutral and multiservice networks, including 5G and data centers.

“We are a company that, in half a century, has gone from a cable manufacturer to a developer of innovative solutions. Understand the future demand of the local market and deliver the solution now, always staying one step ahead of our clients’ needs. This is the Furukawa way of being”, says Foad Shaikhzadeh, CEO of Furukawa Electric LatAm.

Rollable Ribbon technology is one such innovation. It was created by the headquarters in Japan, customized for the American market by the group’s operation in the United States and now nationalized according to local market requirements and meeting all the requirements of Brazilian regulations on national technology, to gain scale from the factory in Curitiba (PR). The product is the result of Furukawa’s commitment to research and development (R&D), an area that receives annual investments of around R$60 million. 

The Rollable Ribbon cable presents itself as a technological trend in the market, thanks to its attributes, very adherent to the current state of the Brazilian telecom sector. It is a set of fibers that provides high compaction, allowing the existing pipeline network to be used and/or shared. As a competitive advantage, in addition to its density, the cable is flexible and adapts well to limited spaces in metropolitan networks or long-distance connections, which are typical of the telecommunications sector in Brazil.

This technological advance not only addresses the challenges of the efficient implementation of high-capacity networks, but it is also in line with environmental principles. Due to its small size, it consumes fewer natural resources. In addition to meeting present demands, the solution anticipates and prepares networks for the growing demands of the digital future.

Another innovation already in production at the Brazilian plant is the InvisiLight solution, specific for the installation of fiber optics inside residential or corporate properties, which is characterized by its ease of installation and discreet (“invisible”) appearance. With these characteristics, the technology is perfect for vertical condominiums or hotels, for example, especially for use in common areas, such as corridors, where it is difficult to access the units via conduits. It is also an excellent solution for the FTTR (Fiber To The Room) concept, for distributing optical fiber to the rooms of users’ homes.  The InvisiLight solution does not require a specific infrastructure, bringing the fiber closer and closer to the customer, so that they have the best possible experience, without the need for civil construction works in the environment and obtaining, in addition to reducing the installation time, technically, lower latency when compared to the Wi-Fi solution – the lower the latency, the better the experience when playing online games – and also enables higher internet speeds (data transfer speed).

ABOUT FURUKAWA ELECTRIC LATAM

Furukawa Electric Latam is a communication infrastructure solutions industry with headquarters in Curitiba/PR and other plants in Sorocaba/SP and Santa Rita do Sapucaí/MG, as well as optical cable factories in Berazategui, in Argentina, Palmira, in Colombia, as well as Mexicali, in Mexico. With a comprehensive portfolio of communication infrastructure solutions, it serves various markets such as data centers, industries, offices, operators and services, among others, at all application levels. Its Furukawa Solutions brand is the result of the combination of several development, production and support centers distributed around the world, relying on the solidity of the Furukawa Electric group, which has been operating globally for over 135 years, offering world-class solutions with local support and services. With a strong commitment to society, it provides Infrastructure for life.

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