Milan, September 23rd, 2008 – To complement the launch of CasaLight Xtreme™ fiber and the Verticasa™ MDU cabling system in North America, Prysmian is releasing and developing a range of connectivity accessories specifically designed for North American MDU applications.  Collectively, these MDU connectivity accessories will be promoted by Prysmian under the new CasaLink™ system brand name.  Having already developed solutions for the MDU market in Europe, Prysmian is using its global FTTH expertise to reduce installation costs and minimize space requirements within riser, closet and living areas in North American MDUs.  The CasaLink™ system includes new MDU distribution cabinets, riser boxes, horizontal distribution and passive optical splitter boxes, customer termination boxes and pre-terminated customer drop cables.  The combination of CasaLink™ accessories, CasaLight™ fiber and VertiCasa™ cabling will provide a complete end-to-end solution for the MDU market.

Initial products include the new “Multi Operator MDU Distribution Box” (MMDB) which offers the ability to cross connect the internal MDU cabling system to multiple external network providers.  Building owners can construct and own the internal cabling infrastructure with a cross connect point in the basement of the building, which is modular and easy to modify or expand.  This not only gives residential customers the opportunity to connect to different FTTH providers but also eliminates the need for any changes to the internal fiber infrastructure.  CasaLink™ also includes an established and widely used range of connectivity solutions for cable management in the riser, horizontal distribution and customer premise termination.   Further expansions to this range will also be released over the coming months from Prysmian.