For Immediate Release

BIRNS Delivers IceCube Cables

Oxnard, CA, October 31, 2005 – BIRNS, Inc., makers of the high-performance Metal Shell Connector Series, announced today that it delivered cable assemblies to the University of Wisconsin’s Physical Sciences Laboratory for the IceCube Project. This program is an outgrowth of AMANDA (Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array), and will ultimately instrument 1 Km3 of ice at the South Pole.

BIRNS supplied high-power Metal Shell connectors for IceCube’s submersible pumps, each with four 2 AWG contacts, in the MSSM shell size (at left). Note the special low-temperature o-ring seals.

BIRNS also supplied miniature instrumentation connectors for temperature and pressure sensors, in the BIRNS Millennium Series' 3G shell size (at right).

“We’re proud to be a part of this fascinating program”, said Eric Birns, CEO. “High-performance connectors and cable assembly fabrication is one of BIRNS' strengths. That's why clients with challenging performance requirements come to BIRNS....because few other companies can meet their needs.”

IceCube is a 1 Km3 international high-energy neutrino observatory being built and installed in the clear deep ice below the South Pole Station. It will open unexplored bands for astronomy, including the PeV (1015 eV) energy region, and may provide insights into gamma ray bursts, the particle nature of dark matter, and help discover supersymmetric particles and topological defects created in grand unified phase transitions in the early universe.

Founded in 1954, BIRNS, Inc. of Oxnard, CA, is a leading manufacturer of high-performance lighting and connector systems for deep-ocean and nuclear use. In addition to lights, BIRNS manufactures connectors in six different ranges, including Aquamate wet-mateables and Millennium high-density deep-submergence styles.