Livingston signs for patch cord support

Alker Optical Equipment has been appointed as a "sole supplier" by Livingston, Europe's leading provider of rental test and measurement equipment.

Alker Optical Equipment, the Nottingham-based optical termination specialist, has been appointed as a "sole supplier" by Livingston, Europe's leading provider of rental test and measurement equipment.

Alker will provide its multimode and single-mode fibre patch cords for use in a range of Livingston's fibre test equipment, including power meters, optical time domain reflectometers, and test and analysis equipment for converged IP service installation and maintenance.

As part of the agreement, Alker is working with Livingston to manage minimum and maximum stock levels, provide technical support to all of Livingston's customers and help guarantee that the fibre optic leads in Livingston's equipment is of the highest quality.

To support this, Alker has become part of the Livingston team, providing support directly to Livingston's customers.

"At Livingston, we are looking for supply partners who do more than sell", said Livingston Commercial Manager, Trevor Reason.

"Alker has put thought and effort into working with Livingston".

"With the quantity of our items that require fibre optic leads, the variation of connector types and the average life of a lead, we predict requirements in excess of 4000 leads per year so we need a supplier that can work with us very closely".

"As Livingston's business builds in the world of fibre to the home (FTTH) and IP convergence, that demand will substantially increase", he added.

Further to the initial provision of fibre optic leads, Alker retains additional leads in stock and guarantees delivery, to Livingston or to the end user, within three working days.

The company also offers an "emergency service" in which it will guarantee delivery on selected components within 24 hours.

"This agreement with a major player like Livingston reinforces all that we strive for at Alker", said Managing Director, Richard Kershaw.

"We are celebrating 21 years in the optical fibre industry and have built our reputation on the high standards of reliability, service and innovation that we have consistently reached and surpassed".

Alker recently announced that it had achieved 99.999% reliability for its optical terminations - a standard reached by perfecting the polishing processes and performing rigorous, 100% testing on each item.

The milestone was reached in carrying out over 86,000 terminations for one customer in an eighteen month period, which resulted in just 11 rejections.

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