HISTORY OF FIBERCORE LTD

Fibercore Limited's roots lie in the pioneering work of the World-renowned Optical Fiber Group of the University of Southampton, UK.  The Company was formed in 1982 to commercialize innovations in the field of specialty optical fibers developed at the University and has specialized in being the first to introduce these innovations to the commercial market:

1983      Bow-Tie Polarization Maintaining Fiber
1987      Neodymium Doped Fiber
1988      Erbium Doped Fiber
1993      Erbium-Ytterbium Co-Doped Fiber
1998      Intrinsically Photosensitive Boron Co-Doped Fiber
1999      All-Silica, 'Cladding-Pump' Rare-Earth Doped Fiber
2002      50 µm, Low-Loss and Highly Bend-Insensitive Singlemode Fiber

Since the very beginning, the main application areas served have been fiber optic gryoscopes (FOG), fiber optic hydrophones, fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), embedded sensors, specialist medical, government and corporate research agencies and telecommunications components.  The business has grown from a primarily research-driven customer base to one in which more than 90% of company income is derived from OEM sales.  The business is international with sales in 46 countries Worldwide; the United States providing more than 50% of sales, with the vast majority of shipments made to Defense Contractors and Government Laboratories engaged in the manufacture and/or development of fiber gyroscopes, hydrophones or novel forms of fiber laser for free-space communications or sensing.  Total shipments of fiber now average more than 1,000,000 m per month - a figure believed to be higher than that of any other 'specialty' fiber manufacturer anywhere in the World and providing Fibercore Limited with unmatched experience in the volume manufacture of highly-specified, 'Specialty' Fiber.

Unlike all other optical fiber manufacturers, Fibercore Limited continued to be profitable throughout the downturn of the Telecommunications Industry; a success due entirely to a strategic decision, taken in 1997, to continue to supply and, more importantly, to support all applications for specialty fiber, at a time when its competitors committed all of their resources to Telecoms.  The Company's current share of the PM fiber for gyroscopes market is estimated to be in excess of 95%, with major OEMs in the United States, France, Germany and Japan.  Uniquely, Fibercore Limited has no debt, a strong balance sheet, a strong order book and, in Cisco Inc, a strong and stable parent.

Fibercore Limited was the first company in the Industry to achieve certification to ISO9001 (1993).  It has also applied specific Telcordia™ (Bellcore) style reliability-testing to all of its products lines since 2000 - developing additional tests that preserve the ethos of Telcordia for cases in which the telecoms-bias of Telcordia proves inappropriate for the more challenging deployments encountered in military, aerospace and 'component' applications.  In 2001, the Company was presented with the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (the UK's highest business honour) and was assessed to be the Country's most successful manufacturing business by the prestigious Experion Survey.  Since then the Company has been awarded three additional Queen's Awards for Enterprise:  Innovation in 2004, and both International Trade and Sustainable Development in 2007, making Fibercore Limited the only company to hold all three Awards.  In addition, Fibercore Limited achieved ISO14001 certification in 2004 and has maintained Top 30 ranking for businesses located within the South East of England for at least the last three years.

2003 saw the move to Fibercore House, a purpose-designed development and manufacturing facility capable of expanding capacity to ten-times the previous maximum, together with the beginning of a major initiative to introduce 'World Class Manufacturing' philosophies to what has traditionally been viewed as a scaled-up 'laboratory' process.  Fibercore House was financed entirely from retained earnings.

Fibercore Limited is staffed by a team of Specialty Fiber Professionals, with a 'core' that has not changed since the mid 1990s and some key members with more than 20 years experience in specialty fiber development and manufacture.  The Managing Director, Dr Chris Emslie, is an acknowledged expert in the Industry and has managed all OEM accounts personally since joining the Company full-time in 1987 - providing a level of service and continuity that no competitor can match.

Fibercore Limited has no relationship whatsoever with FiberCore Inc, or any similarly-named company in the USA or Europe.