Atlanta Motor Speedway's Broadcast Goes High-tech with Sumitomo's FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber...

Business Editors/High Tech & Sports Writers

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, a leader in fiber optic product manufacturing, announced today the successful deployment of its FutureFLEX(R) Air-blown Fiber Cabling System

The speedway is one among a growing number of enterprises in the sports entertainment and broadcasting industry (including, ESPN, Manhattan Center Studios, Carter-Finley Stadium, and Road America) to adopt FutureFLEX as its preferred fiber network cabling infrastructure for facility operations and network broadcasting.

Atlanta Motor Speedway's FutureFLEX fiber optic cabling backbone, unlike a conventional cable infrastructure, accommodates the frequent changes, expansions, and customized fiber routing from sporting event to sporting event required by the various networks transmitting video, audio and data -- such as FOX, NBC, and local stations. Air-blown fiber(R) allows for quick and easy fiber installation and re-routing by blowing fiber bundles through a network of tubes at speeds of 100 to 150 feet per minute to anywhere in and around the track where fiber is needed.

Seeking an advanced fiber optic cabling system, the speedway chose FutureFLEX because of its significant advantages over a conventional fiber cable network. With air-blown fiber, the speedway eliminates the costs of laying dark, unused fiber and enjoys the flexibility of reconfiguring or pulling out the fiber at the conclusion of an event and reusing it in another venue. The ease of installation and reconfiguration significantly reduces the time, labor and cabling costs associated with rerouting a conventional network. Two people can install or blow one mile of air-blown cable in 45 minutes; compared with conventional fiber installation methods, which require 6 to 8 people from 2 to 3 days to pull a single mile of optic cable.

An additional benefit weighed by the speedway in its decision to adopt FutureFLEX includes the ability to reconfigure the fiber in a continuous point-to-point installation with no need to disrupt the facility as done when 'pulling' conventional fiber. By eliminating the need to 'pull' fiber, the point-to-point blowing installation reduces the potential for damaging the fiber and eliminates the need for splicing intermediate connections; thereby offering zero points of failure. Avoiding intermediate connections ensures better long-term reliability when routing the fiber to crucial locations, such as the TV compound, media center, track turns, network mobile studios, scoreboard, PA system, and the start and finish lines.