Ciena

Ripped from the (Twitter) headlines: Ciena eyes Nortel optical/Carrier Ethernet biz

Ciena Corporation, a Maryland-based telecom equipment vendor, is chatting up bankrupt Nortel for its Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses, Nortel officials tweeted this afternoon.

Nortel Networks Corporation today confirmed that it is in advanced discussions with Ciena for the planned sale of substantially all assets within its Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses globally. The outcome of these discussions is uncertain and subject to negotiation of definitive agreements. Any agreements would be subject to a competitive bidding process to be approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The announcement comes as Nortel’s latest sale — to Avaya for its unified communications (UC) business — has hade barely any time to cool off…

Finally, Nortel has some advanced discussions going on for these units. Read IDC carrier infrastructure
Eve Griliches’ column on why takers for Nortel’s assets have been few and far between. Maybe Alcatel-Lucent’s recent talk of converging network layers has made Nortel’s optical and Carrier Ethernet divisions a more appealing proposition for Ciena.

When the going gets tough, Ciena gets going

How do you find your customers when trade shows start drying up? Take the show booth to the customer. That’s Ciena’s idea, anyway, and while we know they’re not alone, they were the only ones to invite us aboard their 16-wheel demonstration booth when it recently stopped near SearchTelecom.com’s Needham, Mass. offices.

Inside, potential customers (as well as SearchTelecom.com’s Editorial Director Susan Fogarty and I) were presented with fairly standard racks to inspect Ciena’s latest (and classic) offerings, like the CN 3920 (pictured far right bottom on rack) and the CN 4200.

The truck roll gave Ray Patalano, Ciena’s senior manager of field marketing, a chance to showcase various features of Ciena’s hardware, but beyond walking us through a spec-sheet presentation, Ray shared some of his thoughts on telecom growth opportunities.

And where are these early green shoots to be found? No place other than the financial services industry, according to Ray.

“We lost some orders, no question about it,” he admitted, saying that even now sales are not near the heady pre-recession days. But he said Ciena is seeing an uptick again, particularly as the remaining finance players seek every possible advantage to stay afloat in tough times.

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