Oct 14 2009
Increased land line usage expected as outcome of new FTTH project
Spring Valley Telephone (SVTEL) selected Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) products and services for its new fiber to the home (FTTH) deployment – citing lower costs and increased efficiency. SVTEL, which provides telecommunications services in west central Wisconsin, launched the first phase of the project in the spring of 2009.
SVTEL Plant Manager Steve Marek says the motivation for the complete fiber overhaul of their service area is customer-driven. “We want to address any and all bandwidth requirements our customers currently have and will have in the future. It’s important that we have a competitive advantage with our triple play offering of internet, video, and telephone.” Marek says one big benefit to the company is increased land line business. “Our intention is to regain customers that have given up their land lines and opted for cell phones. The triple play option will bring them back.”
The fact that Clearfield’s FieldSmart Fiber Management Platform is built upon a single architecture and could be custom-configured to SVTEL’s specifications was critical to the customer. Clearfield’s FieldSmart Fiber Distribution System (FDS), with its central office fiber distribution panels and accessories that allow for scalable capacity, forms the basis for the Spring Valley deployment. The company will be using the FieldSmart Fiber Scalability Center (FSC) for its outside plant cross-connect cabinets; Outside Plant (OSP) multi-fiber assemblies; OSP bend insensitive fiber pigtails, and Central Office fiber optic jumpers.
Core to SVTEL’s decision to use Clearfield was the ability to lower the operational costs of their deployment --- and life-long management of their network. “We were drawn to Clearfield’s Clearview Cassette and its patch and splice design. Because splicing is an integrated function within the Clearview Cassette, we were able to eliminate the use of fiber entrance cabinets in the central office. This saved us money – and space, which is huge. There’s a lot of efficiency and cost savings associated with this design,” said Marek.
Joel Odegaard, an HFC Network Services splicer working on the SVTEL project, concurs. "Clearfield products are a lot easier to work with. The prep time is literally cut in half. It cuts material costs. It cuts splicing costs, which means we’re up and running faster.”
Odegaard is also an advocate for the Clearfield savings associated with troubleshooting. “We save time and money just because the troubleshooting is faster. If we have one bad fiber on a competitor’s cabinet, there’s a huge process involved with finding and replacing it. With Clearfield, we just have to pull that one cassette. So for troubleshooting, it’s a time saver. And that’s a money saver for SVTEL.”
Source: http://www.clearfieldconnection.com/