Superior Essex Inc.150 Interstate North ParkwayAtlanta, Georgia 30339-2101770.657.6000800.685.6543

www.superioressex.com

I N N O V A T I O N S B U I LT O N T E C H N O L O G Y

PERFORMANCE IMAGINATION PRECISION EXPERIENCE

LIT 132 0504-10M

“The simple appearance of communications cables belies the advanced technology

behind each design. Today’s networks require cables to move data faster, to last longer

and to handle more adverse conditions than ever before. To meet these demands,

Superior Essex has developed some of the most technically sophisticated design and

cable manufacturing processes in the world – all built around an investment of hundreds

of millions of dollars, over $50M in new technology just in the last few years.

From telecom cables that stand up to the intense conditions of New York City steam

tunnels to fi ber cables that easily support 40 Gbps transmission, Superior Essex has

engineered thousands of cable designs to meet an equal number of diverse specifi cations

and applications. Our superior technology not only yields the highest performing

communications cables available anywhere, it also makes possible the high-quality

production of several billion feet of cable annually.

Of course, even the best technology would fail to yield world-class products without

a workforce of talented engineers and technicians. Our employee base is as rich in

experience as it is knowledgeable in the science of cable manufacturing. With many

experts in materials engineering, electrical engineering and other applied sciences,

Superior Essex has a team that is considered the best in their fi eld and one that is able

to deliver innovative cable designs to meet the challenges of an ever-advancing world.

Through the hard work of our people and the cable products they produce, we have

become a leader in communications cable who serves the largest telecommunications

companies in North America. More importantly, we have built a reputation with our

customers as the company to rely on for innovation and quality. We welcome you to

experience the Superior Essex difference.”

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Justin F. Deedy, Jr.PresidentSuperior Essex Communications LLC

Leadership Through Experience

For as many years as we have been in business, the names Superior and Essex have been synonymous with quality. In a world where too many manufacturers look for ways to cut corners, we have instead looked for ways to exceed the quality expectations of our customers.

This philosophy led us to become the fi rst OSP copper cable manufacturer to receive TL 9000 certifi cation. It is why we have never failed a UL or ETL verifi cation test on a commercially available Category 5e or 6 cable. And our stringent manufacturing processes are what enable us to manufacture over 5000 different cable designs without fail.

Our leading market position was built from an endless pursuit of perfection – in our products and in our service. It is the difference that has kept customers loyal for decades and has earned Superior Essex customer quality awards year after year.

OSP Copper Cable/Wire

• First All-Plastic Drop Wire

• First Gel-Filled OSP Cable

• First Cellular-Insulated OSP Cable

• First Dry Buried Drop Wire

“ Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort”

John Ruskin

A History of Innovation

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Premises Copper Data Cables

• First Cat 6+ cable without cross-web fi ller

• First to offer ColorTipTM technology

• First Striped Tip Conductor for all Category 5e/6 Cables

Fiber Optic Cables

• First with PFM Gel in Loose Tube Cables

• First Reel-in-a-Box with QuickCount®

• First Tight Buffer Indoor/ Outdoor Water-Blocked Cable with UL Sunlight Resistance

Superior Essex is a company born from the combination of two industry leaders with histories rich in innovation and leading-edge manufacturing. Long before most other cable manufacturers sold their fi rst foot of communications cable, Superior and Essex both became established names in the industry with reputations for technical expertise and dependability.

With heritage of more than half a century, Superior Essex benefi ts from the experience of longevity. Since we produced our fi rst communications cable products in 1954, Superior Essex has continued to stay ahead in terms of technology and design breakthroughs. From our outside plant copper cables to our fi ber optic cable family, we have been fi rst to introduce numerous advancements and designs that became de-facto standards as well as several which are still unique to Superior Essex.

The Science of Cable Design

High performance cable is more than an example of manufacturing precision; it is an outcome of intelligent design. Creating advanced cable designs requires an in-depth understanding of materials science, physics, electrical and mechanical engineering; skills that Superior Essex has developed through 50 years of industry experience. Our development team is in constant pursuit of exceeding the performance standards of existing cable designs as well as creating the cable designs of tomorrow. The combination of expert knowledge and a state-of-the-art design laboratory has made possible our introduction of hundreds of new cable designs and material innovations in the past few years alone. Materials testing and evaluation is a critical piece of communications cable design. The Superior Essex Product Development Center employs some of the most advanced analysis equipment to test material combinations for eventual use in new cable products.

The latest materials performance measurement equipment examines the physical properties of both raw materials and fi nished product. Modulus, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation are properties critical to proper cable design.

The Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) analyzes the thermal properties and heat capacity of new materials. The DSC provides essential data as we choose the proper material combinations that provide the best long-term physical attributes in aging and thermal performance.

The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer provides a “fi ngerprint” of material composition.

The ability to precisely differentiate materials is benefi cial in specifying material combinations that are best suited for long-term performance.

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Performance may be defi ned in many ways. From electrical performance, to noise tolerance, to operation under environmental extremes, Superior Essex has the expertise and tools to ensure high performance of its cable products on numerous levels. Our Product Development Center is also a Telecordia certifi ed test labratory – assuring that our testing is performed with a level of quality and precision that is respected throughout the industry.

Environmental chambers are used to test cables under

extreme temperature and humidity conditions, ranging

from -60º to +85º C with up to 95% relative humidity.

New cable designs are put through a variety of stress tests to ensure high performance under harsh conditions. In this picture the

tensile strength of cable is measured.

Burn chambers are utilized to verify that cables meet industry fl ame resistance test requirements.

The Product Development

Center uses the latest in cable

manufacturing and analysis equipment

in its design process. This approach allows for rapid prototyping

and faster introduction of new innovations.

“ Creativity is where the imaginative and the functional fuse and fi nally become indistinguishable”

Milton Glaser

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Each year, Superior Essex manufactures over 80 billion conductor feet of copper cable. Manufacturing high performance products on this scale is made possible through the use of advanced quality control processes and modern technology.

The number of factors that limit communications cable performance continues to expand as transmission speeds increase. In previous generations of cable, minor mechanical blemishes minimally impacted performance. Today, small imperfections signifi cantly reduce the performance of high performance copper cabling products. Testing and monitoring at each step in the manufacturing process are essential for a high quality fi nished product.

Copper Cable Manufacturing:Performance Through Precision

Conductor uniformity is critical for performance. Beginning with the bare copper, the diameter is precisely controlled using laser measuring heads and electronic statistical analysis to automatically adjust copper diameter fl uctuations. Uniform copper diameters yield consistent conductor resistance and minimize variations in skin-effect losses.

After insulating, the conductors are paired in a process called “twinning.”Each copper pair within a four-pair cable is designed with a specifi c lay length or distance between twists. Using Superior Essex specially designed equipment, each pair of conductors is twisted to within a millimeter of specifi cation and then assembled through an oscillation device to form the 4-pair core. The precision we employ in this manufacturing process results in unmatched crosstalk performance.

Insulating

Twinning and Cabling

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Insulation consistency is critical for electrical performance of the fi nished cable. Laser measuring heads and a continuous feedback system automatically control insulation thickness and eccentricity to one ten thousandth of an inch. This process allows for extremely tight control over conductor capacitance and impedance.

Copper Cable Manufacturing:Performance Through Precision

Jacketing

The fi nal step in the manufacturing process is jacketing. Ultrasonic measuring equipment and a computer-controlled feedback system are used to ensure consistent jacket wall thickness and appearance. Every Category 5e and 6 cable is also printed using our QuickCount® countdown footage marking system from 1000 to 0 feet.

The physical properties of our cables are scrutinized as tightly as electrical parameters. Modern equipment is used to test various wire and cable parameters such as tensile strength, elongation and compression. Additionally, video microscopes are used to analyze compound cell structures, surface, fi nish and wire eccentricity.

Final Testing

Products are considered fi nished once fi nal testing is completed. At intervals well above industry norms, Superior Essex tests every electrical parameter impacting cable performance using highly sophisticated electronic test equipment. Impedance, return loss, crosstalk, attenuation to crosstalk ratio and other critical parameters are verifi ed at more than 850 discreet frequencies to ensure that no discontinuities or single frequency anomalies exist in the cable.

All data acquired from every tested cable is permanently stored and continuous examination of this test information allows Superior Essex to make necessary adjustments to further perfect performance integrity.

Superior Essex has invested over $20 million to outfi t its fi ber cable manufacturing facility with the latest and most effi cient machinery, control processes and testing equipment. That, coupled with a workforce with an average of 21 years of communications cable manufacturing experience, allow Superior Essex to consistently produce fi ber optic cable with quality that is unsurpassed.

During the cable manufacturing process, it is imperative that the optical fi ber strands not be subjected to stresses that could substantially increase attenuation or decrease fi ber strength. Throughout each production stage, Superior Essex control systems are designed to allow for no more than 0.05dB of attenuation change to each optical fi ber in the fi nished cable and tension controls are monitored carefully to avoid fi ber stresses. Other quality controlled processes function to maintain the geometrical design of the cable under strict dimensional tolerances. These practices translate into a fi nished cable that performs beyond industry attenuation standards and provides superior protection against tension and compressive forces during installation.

An inherent characteristic of fi ber optic cable is that the linear length of glass for each cable needs to exceed the length of the fi nished product. Excess glass length is necessary to protect the optical fi ber when the cable is pulled tight during installation or expands at elevated temperatures. However, too much length allows for excess contact with tube walls and results in elevated attenuation. Superior Essex employs control systems to maintain tolerances of +/- 0.03 mm for tight buffering and +/- 0.1 mm for loose tube buffering. Such tight tolerances assure exceptional cable performance even under adverse conditions.

Fiber Processing

Fiber Cable Manufacturing:Consistency Through Technology

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Every fi ber optic strand at all steps of the manufacturing process maintains 100% traceability. The traceability process allows us to monitor the performance characteristics of the fi ber before, during, and after production. At fi nal test, every optical fi ber is verifi ed against strict attenuation limits. It is an approach that assures customers that every cable is thoroughly tested and verifi ed for quality.

“ Engineering is practicing the art of the organized forcing of technological change.”

Dean Gordon Brown

What Makes It BetterSuperior Essex can point to many distinctive features of its fi ber cable products, but the one thing that truly separates them from the rest is not a feature at all. It is the consistency of performance that customers know they can count on every time.

uperior Essex has maintained its leadership position through continual enhancement and expansion of its communications cabling portfolio. From high-performance copper cables to innovative fi ber optic

cables in thousands of variations, the Superior Essex product line covers the broadest spectrum of communications cable applications available. A portion of our product offering is shown here.

Product Breadth

S

Premises Cables

Hybrid

• Multimode and singlemode under one jacket eliminates the need for additional pathway space for different

cable types

• Water-Blocked Sunlight Resistant Tight Buffer

Distribution

• Simplex – 144 fi bers (UL Listed Plenum and Riser)

• Singlemode and multimode high bandwidth

optical fi bers

• 10 Gigabit Ethernet multimode constructions

High-Performance

• CAT 5e and CAT 6 cables that meet

and exceed industry specifi cations

• UL Listed CMP, CMR and CMX (Indoor/Outdoor) ratings

• OSP Broadband CAT 5e

Universal Data and Voice• CAT 3 UTP 2 – 400 pair (UL Listed

Plenum and Riser)

• CAT 3 ARxM Series 25 – 3600 pair

Bundled

• Binding of multiple UTP and/or fi ber

optic cables

Indoor/Outdoor

Fiber Optics Copper

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Exchange Cable and Service Wire• Pair counts range from 2 – 3600 Pair

• 19 – 26 AWG solid conductors

• RUS and Bellconstructions• Aerial, duct and direct buried application designs

• Self-Support Cables

• Multiple shielding and jacketing designs

Today’s communications networks encompass much more than the inside data cabling infrastructure, and so should the manufacturer’s warranty. When a project utilizes Superior Essex cabling for the

structured cabling portion of the network, 100% of all other communications cable products used throughout the same project automatically receive extended warranties from Superior Essex.

Stranded Loose Tube

• 4 – 288 fi bers

• Singlemode, Multimode, 10 Gigabit

Multimode, Enhanced Water Peak, NZDS

and hybrid designs

• Multiple shielding and jacketing designs

• Indoor/ Outdoor Rated Constructions

Single Tube • 4 – 96 fi bers

Multiple Combinations• Copper/Fiber

• Copper/Coax

• Copper/Fiber/Coax

• Fiber/Coax

Outside Plant CableFiber Optics Copper

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Fiber-to-the-Home • Aerial, Buried and Duct 1 – 12 fi bers

Ribbon Cables • 12 – 144 fi bers

Campus Warranty Program

Composite

Langley AFB

Among the oldest continuously active air bases in the United States, Langley is home for more than 8,800 military and approximately 2,800 civilian employees. Nearly 2,000,000 feet of Cobra Category 5e+ cable has been installed in the horizontal cabling infrastructure at this 2,900-acre complex.

Superior Essex: The Choice of Leading Enterprises

Stanford University

The Stanford James H. Clark Center houses scientists from different disciplines to research biology and medicine. Throughout the complex, a Superior Essex bundled cable design consisting of three Category 5e cables and one TeraGain® duplex 50 micron multimode fi ber cable was installed at each work area. Various confi gurations of high pair count Category 3 and TeraGain premises distribution fi ber optic cables were used to provide the respective voice and data backbones for this advanced communications network.

Orange County Convention Center

The recent 1,000,000 ft2 expansion to OCCC has made it the 2nd largest convention center in the United States and one of the largest construction projects that Florida has ever witnessed. For the network cabling portion of this project, Superior Essex was chosen as the primary supplier for this

high-tech center. Over 3,500,000 feet of Marathon LAN® Category 5e cable and 800,000 feet of copper and TeraGain fi ber backbone

cable were used to complete the high-speed data network.

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RTKL Associates Inc.

RTKL is an international architectural and engineering company that is in the business of designing technical solutions for its clients. When RTKL needed to relocate its corporate headquarters, cable selection was critical to showcase the facility and to guarantee a high performance network. RTKL chose Superior Essex to provide nearly 200,000 feet of NextGain® Category 6+ cable and TeraGain fi ber cable throughout the studio and offi ce space.

Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center has played the pivotal role as the nations gateway to space, having been the departure site for the fi rst human journey to the moon and as the base for Space Shuttle launch and landing operations. For the Operation Support Building (OSB), Cobra Category 5e+ and TeraGain 50 micron fi ber cables carry data traffi c for the Local Area Network. Additionally, Superior Essex outside plant loose tube fi ber and outside plant copper cable were installed from the OSB to the launch pads for direct communication.

Logan Airport

By 2010, nearly 38 million passengers will travel through Boston’s Logan Airport. Recently, the 400,000 ft2 International Gateway was renovated and expanded using Superior Essex Cobra Category 5e+ for data and video applications.

Wigton Windfarm

Wind energy is the fastest growing new source of power in the world. The Wigton Windfarm project team challenged Superior Essex to develop an all dielectric fi ber optic cable that would also exhibit excellent rodent protection. Superior Essex addressed Wigton’s specifi c needs by desiging a TeraGain 50 micron outside plant loose tube fi ber optic cable with a special overjacket material. This custom cable connects the control station to each of the 23 turbines.

Superior Essex: The Choice of Leading Enterprises

Los Rios Community College District

Nearly 80,000 students pass through the halls of the four colleges that comprise the Los Rios Community College District. When California’s 2nd largest community college district made plans for a nearly 100 million dollar expansion program, it selected Superior Essex to provide the critical cabling products deployed throughout the campus network, including millions of feet of NextGain Category 6+ cable, TeraGain fi ber cable and OSP copper and fi ber cabling.

Sprint World Headquarters

Superior Essex was chosen as the supplier of copper communications cable used throughout Sprint’s world headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Over 11,000,000 feet of Cobra Category 5e+ cable interconnects the desktops and servers of the 21 offi ce and service buildings that comprise this sprawling campus. Superior Essex OSP cable provides voice and data interconnection between buildings and to the public phone network.

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SureWest Communications

Founded in 1914 as a small independent telephone company, SureWest is now a large telecommunications service provider of digital cable television, broadband services, wireless, data transport and local and long distance telephone service. And since 2003, Superior Essex has been this service provider’s primary supplier of fi ber optic cable products. SureWest is also a leader in the deployment of fi ber-to-the-home (FTTH) and has utilized the small and innovative FTTH fi ber drop cable products from Superior Essex to help make their deployments cost effective and effi cient.

Lowe’s

The world’s second largest home improvement retailer serves more than ten million do-it-yourselfers each week from some of the most technically advanced retail stores in the world. Each of Lowe’s more recent home improvement warehouses contains miles of Superior Essex TeraGain fi ber cable to interconnect point-of-sale registers, printers and work stations to the company’s high-speed data network.

University of Notre Dame

Regarded for its academic excellence, the University of Notre Dame offers four undergraduate colleges, ten major research institutions and more than 40 centers. Superior Essex’s uniquely designed Indoor/Outdoor tight buffer fi ber cables were chosen for the largest singlemode fi ber installation on campus.

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Superior Essex Inc.150 Interstate North ParkwayAtlanta, Georgia 30339-2101770.657.6000800.685.6543

www.superioressex.com

I N N O V A T I O N S B U I LT O N T E C H N O L O G Y

PERFORMANCE IMAGINATION PRECISION EXPERIENCE

LIT 132 0504-10M