Scalable Cabinet conforms to any FTTP architecture.

Press Release Summary:



Designed for accessibility, 96-count Fiber Scalability Center outside plant cabinet features One-Touch installation system with slide-out design incorporating pre-parked pigtails that do not need to be touched until service turn-up. It supports patch and splice applications with all-in-one 12-fiber cassette, and splitter capacity may be scaled to demand. Cabinet is tested to GR-487 specifications and easily concealed among bushes and rocks.



Original Press Release:



APA Cables & Networks Announces 96-Port Count Addition to its Line of Scalable OSP Cabinets for any Fiber-to-the-Premise Architecture



MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 16 -- APA Cables & Networks (NASDAQ:APAT) (APACN), a leader in fiber management solutions and wholly owned subsidiary of APA Enterprises, today announced the latest addition to the Fiber Scalability Center (FSC), its product-line of Outside Plant (OSP) cabinets for any Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) architecture. The 96-count FSC was designed at the specific request of independent broadband service providers who were looking for a smaller cabinet without jeopardizing access to the ports. Field-proven in extreme outside plant environments, the 96-count FSC maintains the same rugged design features of the company's 192, 288 and 576 models that have been deployed at numerous FTTP sites across the country since the Platform's introduction.

The Fiber Scalability Center is designed for "grow-as-you-go" cost containment consistent with other cabinets. Unique to the system is its easy installation and upgradeability, allowing companies to rollout FTTP services without a large initial expense. In comparison to competitive solutions where field engineers must route all the cables into a parking lot and then re-route the cables again when they go into service, APACN's "One-Touch" installation system, utilizing its unique slide-out "Valet Parking" design, reduces installation time because pigtails are "pre-parked" and do not need to be touched until service turn-up. The system also provides for easy identification and protection of jumper cables and the ability to scale splitter capacity as demand requires. The FSC supports patch & splice applications with an all-in-one 12-fiber cassette, the building block for the cabinet.

In response to OSP field technicians who have had difficulty accessing fiber ports in increasingly crowded fiber cabinets, APACN designed the 96- count FSC to ensure easy access to each port. "We make a practice of being on- site for the initial install of every site," explained Johnny Hill, director of product development for APA Cables & Networks. "OSP engineers have joked with me that I must have worked in the field because the platform is designed to accommodate the 'fat fingers' of the field technician, rather than the manicured hands of a laboratory engineer."

Application Environment

The 96-count FSC is designed for unobtrusive installation in a variety of environments. Including:

-- Rural fiber-to-the home deployment where a limited number of users are served in a location.

-- Replacement of larger scale cabinets where the network design calls for fiber being deployed deeper into the network.

-- Environments where the ability to "express fiber" through the cabinet is desired such as to extend feeder fibers from the Central Office or to pass a separate but parallel network through the cabinet to feed a business-type customer.

-- In an overbuilding environment where take-rates are unknown, the 96-count limits up-front costs.

-- Modularity in a grow-as-you-go environment

-- High traffic areas or where critical failure is a concern -- in the event of an environmental factor, such as a traffic accident, critical failure of 96-ports is less of an impact than a larger cabinet.

-- More aesthetically pleasing, easier to conceal. (bushes, rocks, etc.)

-- No additional implementation training required due to common platform and circuit designation.

Fiber Termination Expertise - The GR-Advantage

The trend in today's FTTP environment is moving the fiber closer to the end user, making reliable OSP cabinets and their components a necessity. As part of its high performance OSP connectivity platform, APACN's fiber optic termination has been tested by Telcordia Laboratories to determine conformance to GR-326 standards and the FSC has been third-party tested to the GR-487 specifications.

About APA Cables & Networks, Inc.

APA Cables & Networks (APACN) is a leading provider of fiber connectivity systems designed to meet the unique and demanding requirements of today's independent telephone, cable television and municipal networks. The APACN product line, including fiber frames and panels, OSP cabinets and optical components, offers an innovative, modular and scalable platform designed for use in central office and OSP architectures and has successfully been deployed in some of the harshest of Fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) environments. A full-line of fiber and copper assemblies compliments the APACN solution. To learn more, please visit www.apacn.com/ .

CONTACT: Eric Chalgren, APACN Marketing Manager, +1-763-519-9711, Echalgren@apacn.com

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