NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING DOUBLES CAPACITY OF BLOLITE™ TUBING FOR SHIPBOARD ‘BLOWN OPTICAL FIBER’ TECHNOLOGY FROM BICC BRAND-REX

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., August 12 — Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS) and BICC Brand-Rex have now made the installation of the fiber optic cable backbone aboard Navy ships even easier and faster. Together, the two companies have developed and tested Microduct tubing for Blolite™ blown fiber technology that effectively doubles individual tube capacity from four to eight optical fibers. Total capacity of the seven-tube Multiduct is extended from 28 to 56 fibers.

In stark contrast to the installation of conventional fiber optic cable, blown fiber technology begins with the installation of bundles of small empty plastic tubing. Individually coated optical fibers are then pneumatically propelled or "blown in" through the tubing. The Blolite System developed by engineered cable manufacturer BICC Brand-Rex uses compressed air from a Blolite blow head, and features competitive advantages including life cycle cost savings, easier cabling configuration, and the elimination of abandoned cable. By eliminating the need for splices and inline connections, blown fiber technology provides significant improvement in end-to-end optical performance. Future system expansions, upgrades and changes can be accomplished—without entering the ship’s cableways to install new infrastructure—simply by blowing out existing fiber and blowing in the new, even while at sea.

"Newport News Shipbuilding, in a joint effort to adapt our Blolite System to meet the most stringent specifications of a military shipboard environment, has successfully installed this system aboard several ships," states George N. Benjamin III, president of BICC Brand-Rex, largest cable supplier to the U.S. Navy. "Doubling the capacity of backbone tubing will provide more than sufficient bandwidth for any contingency," Benjamin adds. "We salute their teamwork, skills and initiative."

Newport News Shipbuilding has installed blown optical fiber onboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers USS Harry Truman (CVN 75) and USS Enterprise (CVN 65), and the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau (LHA 4). The company has additional contracts to install blown fiber on the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and the Navy’s next Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).

Newport News Shipbuilding is America’s premier shipbuilding company with annual revenues of approximately $1.7 billion and 18,000 employees. The company is the leader in the design and construction of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U. S. Navy.

Headquartered in Willimantic, Connecticut, BICC Brand-Rex is a division of BICC Cables Corporation. Based in West Nyack, New York, BICC Cables is wholly owned by BICC Group, a $7.2 billion international cables, engineering, construction and infrastructure technologies company headquartered in London.