Canford announced its in-house fibre termination facility during the 2016 International Broadcast Convention (IBC). Attracting over 55,000 attendees from 160 countries, IBC “the world’s most influential media, entertainment and technology show” provided the ideal launch-pad, and an opportunity for the Canford team to speak directly with international customers about this exciting development.
Located at the company’s Washington, Tyne and Wear headquarters, Canford’s fibre termination service was setup to provide a short lead-time service for the termination of LEMO SMPTE, and Neutrik opticalCON connectors in response to customer demand.
Canford quickly established itself within the Broadcast, Live Event and Touring markets as a reliable and speedy source of high-quality fibre products. With this came a significant and sustained demand as Canford became entrusted to supply fibre links for use at international football tournaments, major live events and even a royal wedding.
Further investment would see Canford quickly expand its fibre department in order to stay ahead of demand, and maintain its promise of a ‘short lead-time’ fibre termination service.
The service grew organically, initially expanding into ‘the room next door’, followed by further strategic investment and a permanent relocation to a significantly larger, newly renovated clean-room environment. As well as committing more physical space to fibre termination, Canford has continued its investment in recruitment and staff training, sophisticated production and test equipment, and has made a commitment to increasing its stock holding of raw fibre cables, connector assemblies and finished goods.
Canford Head of Design and Fibre Technology, John Driver comments: “Our fibre termination service has been a great success. It has been hard work along the way, but we have exceeded our own optimistic expectations year-on-year. We found ourselves expanding ahead of when we might have anticipated, and with that physical expansion we’ve also expanded our product offering and stock holding”.
The company’s most recent fibre expansion came just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. The fibre team remained operational throughout lockdown and saw a marked increase in demand for its pre-terminated cable assemblies.
John Driver explains: “Thankfully we had already bolstered our stockholding of SMPTE cable assemblies. Our recent expansion has meant we were able to get ahead of demand and now routinely keep stock of common assemblies such as our Canford SMPTE311 Camera Cables. We also found that customers were unable to carry out ‘normal’ installations during lockdown. Instead, they were adapting to more temporary systems, with a greater emphasis on rapid deployment – particularly within football grounds as a result of the rush to finish the delayed football season, with many games being broadcast due to the absence of fans. Canford’s fibre work often ties in with its custom metalwork capabilities, bringing fibre and metalwork together as a single, complete solution. We were able produce fibre termination boxes at truly short notice for clients during these challenging times”.
The Canford Fibre Termination Team continued with training and development during lockdown as the company expands its offering to include MTP/ MPO high-density fibre connectivity.
