Clearfield Guarantees Industry's Lowest Insertion Loss With FiberDeep Patchcords

FiberDeep Sets New Standard at no More Than .2db Loss; Lower Power Consumption

New Product to be Available Without Price Premium

MINNEAPOLIS, March 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearfield, Inc. (Nasdaq:CLFD) has unveiled FiberDeep, a new class of fiber patchcords that guarantees performance at .2dB insertion loss -- fully half that of the industry standard. This metric extends the link loss budget effectively, extending the distance upon which fiber can be deployed. The company announced that FiberDeep will be available immediately, without price premium on every single-mode patchcord and every 12-fiber assembly deployed within a Clearview Cassette.

"A better performing patchcord is an obvious need for today's demanding networks," commented Larry Johnson, founder of The Light Brigade, the industry's leading fiber optic training resource. "A performance guarantee of this type will help broadband service providers to gain headroom in their optical budget for unplanned events, cut fibers, re-splices and extensions."

Improving the Environment

A 2dB improvement in optical budget reduces power consumption by 10%. The power savings, multiplied by even a small thousand home network, is a significant contribution to a community's "go-green" efforts. "As a manufacturer of optical amplifiers, such as EDFAs, we see this performance guarantee as a significant enhancement for our customers," commented Eric Liu, president of Titan Electronics. "A 2dB improvement on 10 mated pairs in an optical link, will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but will reduce the cost of the EDFA required while extending distance 10 kilometers."

Taking Fiber Seriously

"Quality performance of the fiber patchcord is perhaps the most overlooked yet critical element of a network design," explains Johnny Hill, chief operating officer of Clearfield. "FiberDeep goes beyond improving the performance and lowering the cost of network deployment and maintenance. Additionally, the end-face geometries necessary to achieve this kind of performance improves the long-term reliability."

"As specialists in fiber management, Clearfield has a long history of raising the standard on a quality fiber termination," commented Cheri Beranek, president and CEO of Clearfield. "By adhering to the highest standards for every one of the millions of terminations we have supplied to our customers, we don't have to 'cherry-pick' our assemblies to deliver the highest quality. Every assembly in this class is guaranteed at these performance levels -- taking the guess-work out of fiber deployment and giving our customers the ultimate piece of mind."

Whitepaper/Video Presentation Available

To learn more about how quality performance reduces the cost of today's broadband marketplace, a whitepaper has been posted on http://www.fiberpuzzle.com/whitepapers. To learn more about the FiberDeep program, an informational video can be viewed at http://www.clearfieldconnection.com/resource-center/demonstration-videos/.

About Clearfield, Inc.

Clearfield, Inc. designs the FieldSmart fiber management platform — the only fiber management platform designed around a single architecture – the Clearview Cassette — for the inside plant, outside plant and access network. 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.

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

Released March 1, 2011