4.29.09—Liberty Communications Brings Fiber to Iowa with Clearfield Inc.
MINNEAPOLIS (April 29, 2009) —Central Iowa is about to realize the technological benefits of a fiber to the home (FTTH) deployment from Liberty Communications and Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD).
Liberty’s FTTH initiative in West Branch, Iowa, started in June 2008 and is scheduled for completion this month – just in time for the start of a new overbuild in West Liberty, Iowa. Collectively, more than 2,300 customers will potentially benefit from expanded internet, television and telephone services.
To assure an efficient fiber deployment from both its Central Office (CO) and remote field sites, Liberty is using Clearfield’s FieldSmart Platform of Fiber Management featuring the FieldSmart Fiber Distribution System (FDS). The FDS includes FieldSmart 288-Port Panels, 144 on-frame splice decks, and 1×16 optical splitter modules.
According to Liberty’s Outside Plant Manager Mark Colvin, “We have a hybrid system, of sorts, where we’re feeding customers out of four splitter cabinets, as well as from the CO. The Clearfield frames make this very efficient.”
Colvin said Clearfield was selected for a number of reasons – not the least of which was a spatial “personality” fit. “Each CO has its own personality. They’re all set up differently, and we found that the Clearfield frames were a perfect fit for ours.”
Clearfield also earned high marks for competitive pricing, compactness, job sight appearance and outstanding customer support. “We really appreciated the Clearfield support. Anytime we had questions, they were accessible to resolve our questions on the phone or in person. The people are great to work with,” he said.
It’s not surprising, though, that price factored heavily into the ultimate decision. “It was very important for us to keep this under budget, and Clearfield had the best price right out of the gate. Of course, it’s most important to have the right product and Clearfield delivered. It’s all good as far as I’m concerned.”
The conversion from copper to fiber has been long in coming. “Our plant is almost 50 years old, so it was time for an upgrade. This is the next phase in communications that will give our customers what they need, and will also give us an edge over the competition.”
In addition to Clearfield, Liberty is working with Finley Engineering and Calix to deploy its PON (passive optical network) architecture.
About Clearfield, Inc.
Clearfield, Inc. designs and manufactures the FieldSmart Fiber Management Platform, which includes its latest generation FieldSmart Fiber Distribution System (FDS), FieldSmart Fiber Scalability Center (FSC) and FieldSmart Fiber Delivery Point (FDP) series. The FDS, FSC and FDP product lines support a wide range of panel configurations, densities, connectors and adapter options, and are offered alongside an assortment of passive optical components. Clearfield provides a complete line of fiber and copper assemblies for inside plant, outside plant and access networks. Clearfield is a public company, traded on NASDAQ:CLFD.
More information about Clearfield, Inc., its products and its people can be found at http://www.ClearfieldConnection.com.
