March 06, 2008 11:42 ET

Mitsubishi Rayon and Firecomms to Demonstrate IPTV Optical Fiber Home Network at IPTV World Forum 08

LONDON--(Marketwire - March 6, 2008) - IPTV WORLD FORUM 2008 -- Mitsubishi Rayon and Firecomms are collaborating to provide a live demonstration of an IPTV home network using ultra-thin Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) at IPTV World Forum in London. The multi-room demonstration includes several new devices working together to transmit multiple streams of High Definition and Standard Definition IPTV signals across a Fast Ethernet network entirely comprised of POF.

This demonstration of a POF home network by Mitsubishi Rayon and Firecomms will feature POF cable provided by Mitsubishi Rayon, and several POF-compatible devices that take advantage of Firecomms' OptoLock® plugless fiber optic transceivers, including:

--  Multi-Port POF Switch by DiMoto (www.dimoto.com.au)
--  Eight-Port Ethernet to POF Switch by Nyce Technology Inc.
    (www.nycehouse.com)
--  IPTV Gateway by Motorola
--  IPTV Set Top Box by Digisoft (www.digisoft.tv)
--  Self Install POF Kit by Technetix (www.technetix.com)
--  Optical Media Converter/Fast Ethernet Power Adapter by Homefibre
    (www.homefibre.at)
--  Media Converter by NetGear (www.netgear.com)
    

Additional POF-compatible products from these companies, as well as Molex and Radiantech, will be on display in the booth.

"The number of key electronics companies contributing products to this demonstration is a testament to the growth of POF over the last year," says Hugh Hennessy, Firecomms vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. "With data rates of up to one Gigabit, and assured quality of service to every device in the residence, POF is proving itself to be the most robust technology for 100 Mbps Optical Ethernet and 250 Mbps Optical FireWire IPTV applications in the home."

POF provides numerous advantages to home builders, installers, content providers, and consumers alike. With "garden hose" connectivity, POF is quick and easy to terminate, enabling it to be easily installed in the wall cavity, along baseboards, under carpet, and -- due to its immunity to interference -- even next to electrical cabling, making its installation quicker, more flexible and cost-effective than CAT5/CAT6.

Because it's optical, plastic fiber is completely immune to electrical noise. That means existing copper wiring will not interfere with data passing through POF, so it can even be installed next to electrical cabling. Even other existing networks or wireless systems in the house cannot interfere with data passing through the POF cable. This is very important for multimedia data transmission, in which the quality of the signal could be negatively impacted by external noise.

Troubleshooting is quick and easy as POF uses an eye-safe visible red light. In fact, it's the only interconnect technology where the signal can be seen at both ends.

These features of POF are especially advantageous for emerging IPTV implementations and other triple play services.

"Plastic Optical Fiber enables operators to future-proof their networks in the roll-out of higher bandwidth services, bringing optical fiber to the set top box and redefining the x in FTTX," says Keith Mothersdale, chief technology officer at Technetix. "Using the highly innovative OptoLock® technology, our POF kits enable consumers to self-install home networks with speed and simplicity."

Mitsubishi and Firecomms will present the IPTV home network demonstration on stand #57 at IPTV World Forum (www.iptv-forum.com/) in London on March 12 through 14. Technetix also will feature its products on stand #112. Additional information about POF can be found at www.POFNetworks.com.

About Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Limited

Mitsubishi Rayon is an industry leading POF (Polymer Optical Fiber) supplier, with a history of providing high quality products. The company's range reaches across the data-com industry (home, automotive and industrial), as well as sensor and lighting applications. Through our ability to create tailor-made products, Mitsubishi Rayon is able to cater to any customer requirement. Additional information about Mitsubishi Rayon is available at www.mitsubishicorp-us.com.

About Firecomms Ltd.

Firecomms, a compound semiconductor company, develops high-speed light sources in visible range wavelengths. Firecomms' lasers and LEDs provide the groundwork that will revolutionize optical data communications for small area networks, such as in-car networks and home networks. Firecomms' low power visible lasers unleash the potential for advances in medical devices, barcode scanners, and optical storage devices.

The Ireland-based company leverages its ten years of photonics research experience, optical expertise, and extensive IP portfolio to develop cost-effective solutions for applications in which the use of glass fiber optics is prohibitively expensive. Additional information about Firecomms is available at www.firecomms.com.

OptoLock® is a registered trademark of Firecomms.