Prysmian at the heart of the matter in Italy

Prysmian Telecom Cables and Systems announces the first deployment of its Sirocco, blown optical fibre system, in Italy. The installation has been carried out at the ELETTRA research facility in Basovizza near Trieste, in the north-east of the country. ELETTRA is an advanced synchrotron light laboratory, run by Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. It specializes in fundamental studies of sub-atomic matter using its third generation synchrotron particle accelerator. The fourth generation light source Fermi@Elettra is currently under commissioning and will allow advanced research to be undertaken in several fields of matter structure.

The optical fibre network is part of the FERMI timing system developed at ELETTRA. The fibre performs a vital role allowing the various component parts of the system to operate synchronously with one another to enable ultra fast experiments, such as chemical reactions and transition of matter into different states, which truly happen at the 'speed of light'.

The Sirocco® system consists of small units or bundles of optical fibres which are deployed into a network of preinstalled tubes by means of compressed air. Fibres installed in this fashion remain free of any mechanical stress ensuring a long term integrity of the fibre links in this unique environment. Furthermore the Sirocco® system allows additional fibres to be installed on demand into the tube network without long interruptions to the on-going scientific work of the facility. To date a total of 10 km of Sirocco® has been installed in the tunnel network of the accelerator with significant further quantities planned as the Fermi@Elettra system continues to be developed.

Whilst this is the first Sirocco® deployment in Prysmian's home country of Italy and the first in such a specialized location it is by no means a new technology. It has now been installed in more than 20 countries around the world in recent years with more than 1 million kms of fibre deployed to date. Its main application is in the building of local business and domestic access telecom networks with numerous new installations taking place in relation to current growth in broadband demand. Fibre-to-the-home(FTTH) networks are now being rolled out on a daily basis and the chosen technology of many operators is Sirocco®.