Clearfield Enables Wireline and Wireless Carriers to Push 5G Further

StreetSmart Small Count Fiber Hand-Off Box better aligns capital expense with fiber management and turnup at small cell sites—especially in a 5G world

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD), the specialist in fiber management for communication service providers, today announced the new StreetSmart Small Count Fiber Hand-Off Box. True to Clearfield’s modular product designs, this demarc will streamline an operator’s ability to economically extend fiber networks further into the network, supporting the roll out of 5G, FTTP (fiber-to-the-premise), and wireless access services to more customers. The universality of its design means that any type of carrier can utilize one product across all of its small cell, DAS and MDU builds as these type of networks increase to support Cloud, IoT and other services across municipal, hospitality, transportation, manufacturing and other high-growth industries and applications.

“The market is continuing to see an uptick in the need for rapid fiber deployment to support 5G and other emerging technologies,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President and Analyst, Dell’Oro Group “Recent data from Dell’Oro Group states that CBRS RAN is projected to approach $1.5 billion to $2 billion by 2024. To increase wireless coverage and meet these industry forecasts, the utilization of mid-band small cells to extend fiber further into the network will be vital. Products that are craft-friendly and enable the rapid turnup of fiber services at a small cell site are key – especially in a 5G world.”

The StreetSmart Small Count Fiber Hand-Off Box is the ideal fiber termination solution for operators that plan to deploy 5G or DAS as it supports extending the fiber fronthaul and backhaul capabilities throughout the footprint. It is also cost effective for carriers targeting smaller MDUs to support FTTP services. Up to 12 fibers can be terminated in one of four configurations in this craft friendly box via an angled adapter feature that provides ease-of-connectivity, cleaning and testing. Its compact size makes it ideally suited to be concealed inside a mono pole in small cell and DAS networks. Another key value is the ability to land the carrier fiber on one side and have craft technician separation from the contractor/installer on the other side. Designed with a hinged plate and 216 locking mechanism, access is secured between craft responsibilities. The craft friendly GR-771 box can also be mounted aerially, on a pole or wall.

“5G requires fiber to radios that are further out in the network and the further you go into the network, the fewer number of fibers are needed,” said Kevin Morgan, Clearfield’s Chief Marketing Officer. “A traditional problem point for the carriers has been at the fiber hand-off point and until now, there has not been a small form-factor option for 5G or DAS networks for a protected hand off from wireline to wireless that didn’t require advanced training to deploy and support.”

Clearfield’s StreetSmart Small Count Fiber Hand-Off Box is available for shipment in September 2020. More information can be found on this introductory video, the associated data sheet or at www.SeeClearfield.com.

About Clearfield, Inc.

Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) designs, manufactures and distributes fiber optic management, protection and delivery products for communications networks. Our “fiber to anywhere” platform serves the unique requirements of leading incumbent local exchange carriers (traditional carriers), competitive local exchange carriers (alternative carriers), and MSO/cable TV companies, while also catering to the broadband needs of the utility/municipality, enterprise, data center and military markets. Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, Clearfield deploys more than a million fiber ports each year. For more information, visit www.SeeClearfield.com