OFS RESPONDS TO INCREASING ENERGY AND RAW MATERIAL COSTS

Norcross, Georgia, July 18,  2008 — OFS today announced it will raise the price of  its optical fiber cable products immediately by up to 10 percent depending on their exposure to rising materials, energy, and transportation costs.
 
OFS continues to experience dramatic price increases of raw materials used in the manufacture of fiber cable such as polymer resins, aramid yarn and steel.  

“Materials and energy costs have increased over 15 percent year over year, while transportation costs are up 7 to 10 percent,” said Bill Kloss, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales, North America and CALA, at OFS.  “These price increases are required to partially offset these unprecedented costs that we have absorbed over the last year.” 
 
In addition to implementing energy conservation programs, lean manufacturing and process improvements, OFS continues to review alternative sourcing of raw materials and transportation to minimize the impact of these increases.  

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 included technology powerhouses such as AT&T (NYSE: T) and Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent, NYSE: ALU). 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.

###

PR Contact:

Sherry Salyer
OFS
770-798-4210
shsalyer@ofsoptics.com