Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) has introduced the YOURx-Aerial Terminal, an enclosure for optical service aerial applications aimed at reducing service provider operational costs. The aerial or strand mount fiber terminal is designed to terminate and distribute multiple fiber drops and express feeder fiber cables. It's also designed to support the ability to deploy all PON splitter topologies - distributed, centralized or hub and spoke - and manage other optical components such as C/DWDM passives from a single platform.
The YOURx platform is a series of access products based on the YOURx FlexPort. The FlexPort is designed to enable the use of any type of media, whether ducted or brought directly into the terminal. It features plug-and-play connectivity for the distribution and access portions of the network while the feeder cables are fanned out and spliced inside the YOURx-Aerial Terminal. The terminal uses the same fasteners common to all network installers.
"Our approach for aerial fiber deployment has to be fast, flexible and cost-effective," said Joe Aresco, Frontier Communications AVP of OSP Engineering. "The innovative design of Clearfield's YOURx-Aerial Terminal provides much-needed options that we haven't seen in other solutions. Planning for the future is made easier with the Aerial Terminal's mid-span and drop capabilities. And because labor is such a big factor in the cost of fiber deployment and maintenance, we're pleased that a significant labor savings can be achieved utilizing the building block, plug-and-play connectivity."
The new YOURx-Aerial Terminal is a free-breathing, aerial interconnection point designed to support up to 144 fiber feeds with a distribution capability of up to 24 individual service drops per site. It can mid-span a larger count fiber cable, allowing the service provider to deploy multiple terminal access points along the same cable run. It also features internal fiber slack storage for ribbon or loose tube fibers and is compliant with Telcordia GR-3125. The YOURx-Aerial Terminal is expected to be commercially available as of March.