May 2009 — Fiber Optimists
After 22 consecutive years of losing money, the company now known as Clearfield is profitably supplying connectivity products to smaller telecoms.
Gong. Gong. Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!
The “gongs” sound from the big “$100,000” bell; the “dings,” from the smaller, “$10,000” bell. The two ship’s bells are mounted on the wall at Clearfield, Inc., and when someone grabs the cords and rings them, everyone in the office can hear the news: The company has just rung up another sale, this time for $250,000.
With the tolling of each bell, Clearfield makes a further inroad into the nation’s estimated $3 billion market for optical fiber used by small and midsize telecommunications companies. “I’ve got 97 percent of the U.S. fiber market still open to me,” says Cheri Beranek Podzimek, the company’s president and CEO. Clearfield, she adds, is “very early in a very high-growth market.”
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