Population growth implies the increase of many things; for example, the quantity of cars in cities, the construction of houses and buildings, the deployment of public services, and the production of goods, services and other activities.

Much of this growth brings saturation with it: saturation of streets and freeways, saturation of population density and, in the case of our industry, saturation of the pathways for the installation of communication wires.

In Latin America, the saturation problem on the wire install routes is noticed most distinctly on poles, which are completely swamped or “saturated” by wires, creating chaos at the point of access. This problem is in the buildings also.

For example, in Panama, high-rise building construction is the new standard; 50-story buildings are the typical build. Designers of these developments didn’t receive adequate assistance regarding fiber technology requirements, which is why we find the vertical routes aren’t big enough to hold the wires required for the operator’s demand and services of end-users. These vertical access points, which we may call pipes or vertical trays, appear blocked because of the installation of many bulk wires made of copper, coaxial and optical fiber, as well as connection boxes that congest them even more.

How do we avoid these congestion headaches? First and foremost: proper planning. Also of importance: products that are flexible enough to navigate the variability of each multi-dwelling unit (MDU) environment. Clearfield’s product platform navigates these variables while simplifying and speeding deployments within the MDU through:

• FieldShield^® multi-fiber assemblies with MPO plug-and-play connectors. Clearfield offers MPO fiber assemblies that are manufactured to tight specifications that exceed industry standards.
• FieldSmart^® Wall Boxes…ideal for MDU scenarios where a discrete footprint is needed…without sacrificing fiber management.
• Clearview^® Cassettes…the central building blocks of every element of the FieldSmart product portfolio. All types of fiber cable construction can be integrated within these fiber cassettes to support all patch only, patch and splice, passive optical component hardware and plug-and-play scenarios.

Configured with WaveSmart^® Optical Components that may come with splitter combinations, the Clearfield Cassette offers a simple and less invasive building installation, regardless of the size. The use of optical components within the cassette make it possible to use only one fiber cable of 3 or 4 millimeters as a vertical distribution wire, with no need to use splice enclosures or splice trays, to connect directly to the Clearview Cassette in a matter of seconds and with no special tools. Clearfield’s FieldShield MPO connectors are tested and certified in factory, guaranteeing the lowest level of attenuation and loss of return in the industry.

In the drop access to end-users, the use of FieldShield 900 micron pre-connectorized and pullable StrongFiber results in an easy, fast and less invasive installation.

For more information on how employees and contractors can avoid all types of fiber traffic jams, please reach out to Clearfield.

By Pedro Leal

Pedro Leal is a Clearfield Applications Engineer for the Latin American market and a 25-year telecom industry veteran. Pedro began his career as an Outside Plant Engineer for AT&T (Venezuela). In addition, his previous experience includes OSP Manager at Columbus Networks (Panama) and Director at Oficina Tecnica VPL (Venezuela). As a Clearfield Application Engineer, Pedro provides sales support, product installation and maintenance, documentation and team member support.