American industrial equipment manufacturer AFL on Wednesday said it has forayed into India to make optical fibre cable and accessories for the local and overseas markets.
“We have entered into a strategic alliance with Citadel Intelligent Systems Ltd (CIS), a start-up in Bengaluru, to make our products for the Indian and global markets in Hyperscale computing and data centre segments,” said AFL Chief Executive Jody Gallagher in a statement here.
The over three-decades-old South Carolina-based firm with operations in the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia is a subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd in Japan.
“The demand for high-speed broadband, investment in IT and telecommunications, accelerated by the government’s ‘Make in India’, ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives offer exponential growth for optical fibre solutions,” said Gallagher.
The partnership enables AFL to hard-sell fibre distribution and cable management solutions, including fibre cable designs for data centres in the Indian market.
“As strategic partner, we will provide manufacturing facility, sales and marketing support to AFL, which will bring in technology, products and applications,” said Citadel Chief Executive K.K. Shetty.
“With the right talent pool and Citadel’s high-end production base, we will be able to provide customization and quick turn manufacturing to meet the specific needs of our customers,” added Gallagher.
Citadel’s manufacturing unit, located in Doddanekundi industrial area here, has 50 employees, which will be doubled to 100 by March 2018.
The global optical fibre market is estimated to be $2 billion by 2019.
“With the right talent pool and Citadel’s high-end production base, we will be able to provide customization and quick turn manufacturing to meet the specific needs of our customers,” added Gallagher.
Citadel makes fibre optic network inter-connectivity solutions for enterprise and telecom networks, smart cities, security and surveillance systems.