Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) says it will offer an air conditioner option for its FieldSmart Fiber Active Cabinet (FAC) outdoor enclosure line starting next month. The option enables network operators to move equipment into the field that may not have been appropriately environmentally hardened. So systems such as routers and switches can be deployed closer to the end customer, Clearfield says.
“Customers are telling us they need to place non-hardened active equipment deeper in the network requiring climate-controlled air conditioners that maintain operating temperature inside the cabinet,” explained Johnny Hill, Clearfield’s chief operating officer. “The challenge our customers face is that the development times to engineer these devices so that they can be deployed in the outside plant isn’t feasible if they want to take early advantage of market demand. By adding this feature to our FACs, we’re solving that problem for them, with the added benefit of having one partner that’s able to work with them on any deployment.”
In practice, the FAC air conditioner option provides a single opening for the conditioned (supply) air to be discharged into the cabinet and for the indoor air to return to the air conditioner. The air conditioner option is available to start for two FieldSmart FACs:
- The FieldSmart FAC 3200, which features two front and rear 16RU 23-inch frames that can accommodate up to 32RU of active electronics while providing up to 576 internal fiber distribution ports for deployments.
- The FieldSmart FAC 5400, which comprises two swing frame front and rear 27RU 23-inch frames that can accommodate up to 54RU of active electronics and provides up to 1,152 internal fiber distribution ports.
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