By GREGORY ZELLER //
An East Farmingdale startup that dares to dream small has added another high-wiring act to its already-impressive list.
With miles (and miles and miles) of its armored plenum fiber-optic cables snaking through the new-and-improved LaGuardia Airport, TiniFiber is now running its patented “micro-armored” fiber-optics through Penn Station’s Moynihan Train Hall, a newly christened, 255,000-square-foot concourse servicing Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers.
Adding a city block’s worth of ultra-high-definition digital displays to its ledger, the Midtown Manhattan transportation hub is another impressive get for TiniFiber, new identity of longtime East Farmingdale services provider CertiCable, a 2011 startup founded by serial entrepreneur Christian Peterson III.
When Peterson patented a “micro-armor coil” upgrade for standard fiber-optic cables in 2015, CertiCable and its disruptive technology charged headfirst into a new vertical. Not only is Peterson’s stainless steel micro-coil shell super-strong – 65 percent stronger than old-school BX aluminum cables and standard Aluminum Interlocked Armor cables, according to the innovator – but it plays nicely with existing fiber-optic infrastructures.
“We didn’t change the characteristics of the fiber,” Peterson told Innovate LI. “All we did was make a new type of armor on the outside.”
Christian Peterson III: Steady fiber diet.
TiniFiber is also smaller, lighter and easier to ship than standard armored cables – major advantages for distributors, end users and “anyone who installs fiber,” the entrepreneur added.
That theory was successfully tested during LaGuardia Airport’s multi-year, multibillion-dollar renovation – all told, 25 miles-plus of TiniFiber cable linked across the new terminals and airport facilities, Peterson said, serving “technology and security” purposes.
And it was proven again in Moynihan Hall, where project designers insisted on installing the groundbreaking micro-armor coil-protected fiber-optics. In fact, TiniFiber was “hard-spec’d” by project engineers and designers, according to Peterson, meaning electrical contractors had to plug the East Farmingdale brand into Moynihan Hall’s myriad screens and displays.
“They couldn’t use anything else,” Peterson noted. “It had to be us.”
What seems like a brilliant stroke of right-place/right-time is more than just serendipity for Peterson, a bona fide creator – he once studied culinary arts at the New York Institute of Technology – who’s made a habit of recognizing trends, anticipating needs and meeting new demands.
He launched CertiCable at the height of the Great Recession, he noted, essentially by scooping up talent cut loose by belt-tightening firms and molding a new team of ready, tech-savvy professionals. His 2005 startup Certified Multimedia Solutions, which offers a range of technology installation and servicing options, is still “paying the bills,” Peterson said, mostly by concentrating specifically on low-voltage subcontracts.
CertiCable’s 2020 rebranding as TiniFiber (citing website and print-marketing costs, Peterson estimates a $300,000 pivot) keeps up the innovator’s johnny-on-the-spot mantra. For future momentum, he’ll rely on continued good relationships with various engineers, designers and consultants – and especially with project integrators, who coordinate a construction project’s myriad elements and are “huge influencers,” according to Peterson.
Ready and willing cable: The smarter the grid, the better for TiniFiber.
“A system with multiple features, where you want the camera to talk to the intercom to talk to the alarm system, needs to be integrated by multiple engineers,” Peterson noted. “We do a lot of smart buildings and Internet of Things and fiber-to-the-home projects, so working with integrators is very important.”
Meanwhile, even as TiniFiber continues to “make headway with some big names” on new commercial and residential applications for its cutting-edge armored fiber-optics, Peterson’s inner innovator is already getting itchy.
A new Long Island-based foray into vitamin and health-supplement manufacturing is coming soon (stay tuned). And Peterson’s engineers are already knee-deep in what’s shaping up as the next big thing in fiber-optic connectivity, what the entrepreneur called “fiber and power in one” – essentially, the transmission of data and electricity through a single conduit.
“So, you can have fiber-optic glass and copper power [wires] under one jacket,” Peterson said. “It’s something that already exists in our system, but we’re making headway toward making it more commercially viable.”
TiniFiber
What’s It? Stronger, sleeker and lighter “micro-armored” fiber-optic cables
Brought To You By: Christian Peterson III, who knows how to read a market
All In: About $300,000 to rebrand 2011 startup CertiCable, including online SEO and print marketing
Status: No project too big
