Clearfield Launches 'The Fiber Color Pages'

Monthly Commentaries to Delve Into Fiber Industry Issues, Posted on Clearfield's FiberPuzzle.com

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 17, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearfield, Inc. (Nasdaq:CLFD) has launched The Fiber Color Pages, the first in a series of monthly online commentaries to focus on various issues and advancements in fiber management. The first feature, authored by Clearfield Senior Member of Technical Staff Brian Schrand, is entitled "Is Plug and Play the Future of FTTH?" It is posted on Clearfield's FiberPuzzle.com, the company's social media site devoted exclusively to people who are interested or who work in fiber management.

According to Clearfield President and CEO Cheri Beranek, "Fiber Color Pages is, essentially, a variation on industry white papers addressing issues facing the telecommunications industry. Brian has an interesting perspective on fiber management, so we thought FiberPuzzle.com would be a perfect platform for him to share his point of view."

In the inaugural commentary, Schrand considers whether the decade-old plug and play technology has come of age in the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) evolution. He notes, "the largest issue when using traditional methods to build a FTTH network is that they're very labor intensive, especially in the area of splicing. In most cases, 70 percent of the capital spent is for labor. Because of this, manufacturers are being pushed to develop a more cost effective way to build these networks." Schrand notes that with the plug and play option, "connectorization replaces splicing so the need for skilled labor is reduced and the cost to deploy a FTTH network goes down."

The entire feature can be read at www.fiberpuzzle.com/blog.

FiberPuzzle.com was created by Clearfield in 2009 to allow industry leaders, professionals, and others to read the latest fiber management news, connect with others in the field, and discuss the future of the fiber industry in a single online location.

Beranek said the site is not intended as a platform to exclusively showcase Clearfield products or technology. FiberPuzzle.com is intended to create an online space to engage the FTTx community in dialogue about the industry. It has been created to serve as a place "Where Fiber Management Comes Together."

The Fiber Color Pages is one more way for users to learn and share ideas regarding fiber management. In the FTTx Blog, Clearfield application engineers and market managers offer field-proven experience on pertinent fiber deployment issues. The Whitepaper Corner provides information on how to meet the many challenges of broadband deployment.

"Two of Clearfield's core values are listening to our customers and celebrating our successes with them," says Beranek. "The Fiber Color Pages is another part of the whole picture. We hope it becomes a vital resource for other organizations and people working in the fiber deployment and management industry."

About Clearfield, Inc.

Clearfield, Inc. designs and manufactures the WaveSmart platform of powered optical signal products, including the WaveSmart PowerNode 1550 EDFA, and the FieldSmart Fiber Management Platform, which includes its latest generation FieldSmart Fiber Distribution System (FxDS), FieldSmart Fiber Scalability Center (FSC) and FieldSmart Fiber Delivery Point (FDP) series. The FxDS, FSC and FDP product lines are built upon the Clearview Cassette, delivering the industry's only fiber management platform that is built upon a single architecture. Scaling from 12 to 1728 ports, FieldSmart supports a wide range of panel and cabinet configurations, densities, connectors and adapter options, and are offered alongside an assortment of passive optical components. Clearfield provides a complete line of fiber and copper assemblies for inside plant, outside plant and access networks. Clearfield is a public company traded on Nasdaq:CLFD.

The Clearfield, Inc. logo is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7887

CONTACT:  Clearfield, Inc.
          Gary Young
          612-247-8123
          garydyoung@comcast.net

Released August 17, 2010