Clearfield Expands Last-Mile Fiber Capacity with 144-Port PON Pedestal Insert Kit

MINNEAPOLIS — Clearfield, a provider of fiber management and connectivity platforms for communications providers, expanded its FieldSmart Fiber Delivery Point (FDP) line of products with the introduction of the 144-Port PON Insert Kit. Responding to industry calls for a cost-effective method to bring fiber to smaller serving areas, the 144-Port PON Pedestal is designed to reduce the number of access points and the secondary/distribution fiber needed to reach the home. Introducing the 144 PON Pedestal into the network helps to minimize drop lengths and large points of failure should damage occur.

“This PON Pedestal provides service providers open architecture alternative,” comments Steve Knudtson, outside plant product manager at Clearfield. “The PON Pedestal is a lower cost alternative to the traditional, sheet metal cabinet. Customers want flexibility in deployment options. We’ve designed the 144-Port PON Pedestal for direct bury or vault-mounted options as well as offering as an insert kit for placing into existing pedestals. All options provide splice or interconnect functionality for drops to the home in the last mile of the access network.”

Clearfield achieves higher density within a FDP Pedestal by incorporating additional Clearview Blue Cassettes and the new WaveSmart High Density Splitter that utilizes 900 micron fiber for ease of fiber management and greater slack storage. “Available in either patch-only or patch and splice configurations, the network designers and planners have choices in configuration and segmentation flexibility in a scale not matched by larger, more costly cabinets,” added Knudtson.

“Segmenting the service area/access point of the network in order to reduce the impact and service-interrupted conditions, create smaller and easier to manage consolidated fiber management elements and increase the ease of design-engineering placement is the industry trend,” commented Clearfield COO Johnny Hill. “The introduction of our 144-Port PON Pedestal demonstrates our expertise in creating industry-leading, cost-effective end-to-end fiber management and our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our customers.”