• PGTelco deploying FTTH with Clearfield
By Brian Santo
Prairie Grove Telephone Co. (PGTelco), a family owned communications company in Arkansas, is set to begin rolling out fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) to portions of its 8,500 customers in five exchanges within northwestern Arkansas. The company has chosen Clearfield as its fiber management supplier.
The project originated as a greenfield installation with the construction of new subdivisions in 2007. PGTelco chose Clearfield’s FieldSmart Fiber Scalability Center (FSC) in an 864-port cross-connect configuration.
Using Clearfield’s Clearview Cassette allows PGTelco to add users in 12-port increments. PGTelco outside plant manager Shane Bell said: “This solution allows us to dictate how much feeder and distribution we need for our active fiber deployment, and we can scale as we grow. And, since you do not have to purchase a fully populated unit initially, the pricing is better than competitors.”
The company is also exploring the possibility of updating brownfield structures in older areas of the communities it serves.
• Apple raises stake in U.K. chip designer Imagination
By The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) – British chip designer Imagination Technologies said Friday that Apple Inc. has raised its stake in the company to 9.5 percent after buying stock on the market and through a share placement made by the company.
Imagination made no comment on the stake increase beyond the requirement that it report the crossing of the 8 percent threshold to the London Stock Exchange.
Apple uses Imagine technology for the graphics in the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Recent moves by both Apple and U.S. chipmaker Intel Corp. to lift their share holdings in the company – Intel now has a 16 percent stake – kicked off takeover speculation, driving Imagination’s share price up earlier this week. However, it succumbed to profit-taking on Friday as no offer emerged, trading down 4.7 percent at 136 pence ($2.24).