Infinera Corp. has started the Osmine certification process for its DTN-X optical switch, an apparent precursor to a Tier 1 deployment.

And "Tier 1" does not mean a cable operator, an Internet content provider or a bandwidth wholesaler, CEO Tom Fallon very specifically said on Thursday's earnings call.

Who could it be? Fallon didn't say, naturally, but Verizon Communications Inc. seems to be hanging out with the company quite a lot. For example, Stuart Elby spoke at an Infinera event in September. (See Verizon Teases at Infinera Event.)

Infinera and Verizon are jointly hosting a packet-optical workshop to coincide with Light Reading's Packet Optical Transport Evolution conference in New York in May.

Last quarter, Infinera reported it had four customers in trials for the DTN-X. It's now got four customer orders -- one from Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc and three from previous Infinera customers, Fallon said Wednesday.

Two of those trials have led to purchase orders. Infinera has six more DTN-X trials starting during the current quarter, for a total of eight ongoing trials, Fallon said.

Revenues for the DTN-X should start arriving later in the year, Infinera officials said.

But that creates a short-term problem. Infinera gets better margins from line cards than from new systems -- so it makes less profit off a customer at first, then builds up more profits over time. So for the second quarter, which ends in June, Infinera expects non-GAAP losses per share of 14 to 18 cents, worse than the 11 cents-per-share loss analysts expected, according to Thomson Reuters.

For its first quarter, which ended March 31, Infinera reported revenues of $104.7 million and a net loss of $20.6 million, or 19 cents per share. That's compared to year-ago revenues of $92.9 million and losses of $16.4 million, or 16 cents per share.

Non-GAAP losses of 10 cents per share beat analysts' expectations by a penny.

— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading