NORCROSS, Ga., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Peter C. Schultz, Ph.D., independent inventor and consultant, retired CEO of Heraeus Tenevo, Inc. and member of the Board of Managers of OFS Fitel, LLC (OFS) will be a featured speaker at the Charles Kao symposium, Wednesday, March 24^th from 6-8pm in celebration of the recent Nobel Prize awarded to Charles K. Kao.  Dr. Charles Kao is the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication."

The connection between these two pioneers in optical fiber is not lost.  In 1964, a critical specification was identified by Dr. Kao for long-range communications devices, proposing that the loss of signal in fiber optic cables could reach 20 decibels of light loss per kilometer if impurities and flaws in the glass could be eliminated.  Dr. Kao illustrated the need for a purer form of glass to help reduce light loss.  In 1970, Dr. Schultz and his co-researchers Drs. Maurer and Keck, after four years of experimenting at Corning, invented the world's first practical glass optical fiber based on doped fused silica (US patent 3,659,915) and a vapor deposition process to produce it (US patent 3,711,262), and capable of accurately carrying significantly more information than copper wire to a destination many miles away.  Dr. Schultz's co-discovery of optical fiber solved the problem presented by Dr. Kao, meeting all critical specifications, and has become crucial to all aspects of our modern telecommunication infrastructure.

Dr. Schultz holds 26 patents and has written over 20 research papers and is an expert in fused silica glasses.

"Dr. Kao's Nobel prize winning work set the stage for the development of the optical communications network and many other applications of fiber optics that are the source of OFS customers.  As an Optical Society of America (OSA) corporate member and our many individual OSA members we join together to honor Dr. Kao for his vision and creativity," said Dr. Timothy F. Murray, Chairman and CEO of OFS. "OFS has been fortunate to have Dr. Schultz as part of our board.  His experiences as an inventor entrepreneur and CEO made him especially valuable to a company such as ours.  It was founded in the Bell Labs tradition of innovation in optical fiber technologies, yet we faced, from the moment we were created, fast and wrenching changes in the global telecommunications marketplace.  We are proud to be associated with him and expect to continue to benefit from the association for years to come as we serve the customers Dr. Kao's vision created."

Please visit us at OFC/ NFOEC in San Diego, California March 23 – 25 at Booth 1023.

About OFS

OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTX, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products.  Our manufacturing and research divisions work together to provide innovative products and solutions that traverse many different applications as they link people and machines worldwide. Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods, and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components for efficient, cost-effective transmission.

OFS' corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and includes technology powerhouses such as AT&T and Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent). Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications.

Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta) Georgia, U.S., OFS is a global provider with facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia.

For more information, please visit www.ofsoptics.com.

    
    
    Contact:
    
    Sherry Salyer
    OFS Public Relations
    shsalyer@ofsoptics.com
    Direct:  770-798-4210
    Mobile: 678-296-7034

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