Ciena CEO Gary Smith said that M&A is always a possibility as the company looks to build its software business while managing the growth of its optical platform sales to web-scale companies.

International operators are set to ween themselves off Huawei, claims Ciena CEO Gary Smith.

Transport gear and software vendor reports year-on-year revenue growth of more than 17% to $960.6 million, with a hefty chunk of revenues coming from web-scale customers, but investors reacted negatively to outlook.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone boss takes a GB pound 1.2 million pay cut; BT may cut its dividend to fund fiber rollout; ADVA connects in Kuwait.

International wholesale operator wants to play a bigger role with enterprise customers but adding services such as data center interconnect and SD-WAN requires additional operational and business support tools.

Cisco said it would buy Acacia and the components vendor's current optical transport customers need not worry. The move is seen as positive overall, but one analyst explained why Arista should probably be more concerned than ADVA.

The optical equipment maker spies international opportunity in Huawei's problems.

For its fiscal quarter ended April 30, Ciena showed more growth and some customer diversification, while continuing to add to its software portfolio.

Heavy Reading's optical guru Sterling Perrin highlights some key trends from the NGON & DCI World event in Nice, including 'Beyond Coherent,' what 400ZR really means for the market, the latest on 5G transport and the FUDfest that is Huawei.

The opening sessions of this year's NGON & DCI World event in Nice focused on money matters and automation but there was little appetite to discuss the impact of global trade tensions and the US clampdown on Huawei's supply line.

There are 11 (yes, count them!) shortlisted entries in this year's category for Most Innovative Telecoms Product (Optical/IP/Carrier Ethernet/FTTH).

Acacia Communications, Finisar, ProLabs, Source Photonics and Xilinx all submitted standout entries for the Outstanding Components Vendor category in this year's Leading Lights contest.

The optical networking industry is at another inflection point, writes James Kisner, and the chalice some companies drink from next could point the way to everlasting revenue growth.

The ON2020 group is looking to address the optical transport challenges presented by the predicted surge in user traffic on carrier networks.

Not entered yet? Then get a move on... there are only days left to submit your entries.

More acquisition activity in the optical space is inevitable, but it might not happen for a while until some newly coupled companies get to know each other just a little bit more.

In today's regional roundup: Huawei's troubles could be good news for Ericsson; Enea lines up another acquisition; Orange Business Services lands smart meter IoT deal; Ciena heads to the UK countryside; and more Ericsson.

With its competitors stumbling, its largest customers remaining stable and its markets outside of telecom growing, Ciena is enjoying relatively smooth sailing in CEO Smith's 17th year at the helm.

Why spend more than $600M on a company that makes optical transceivers? It wasn't just one product, but an entire automated manufacturing process that may help Cisco stay ahead of future bandwidth bottlenecks.

The optical networking vendor said in a filing with the SEC that it will take a charge against earnings related to severance and other related costs.

Light Reading's Mitch Wagner filed this report from Las Vegas, where he spoke to enterprise partners, telco CTOs and Cisco executives about the emergence of IoT, AI and 5G - and how those technologies are reshaping networking.

New initiatives bring IP onto the platform for end-to-end services up to Layer 3 but also support remaining base of TDM offerings better.

Further innovation is needed if optical transport networks are to support traffic growth and there was plenty of evidence at a recent ECOC workshop that key work is already underway.

Cloud connections, not video or 5G, will be the global network operator's growth drive.

Infinera closed its acquisition of Coriant today, creating one of the world's largest optical networking providers with 600 customers around the world. But talk of a major account challenge mounted by Ciena sent the company's stock tumbling more than 15%.

Coherent DSPs for 400Gbit/s and beyond could be the catalyst for a re-shaping of the optical vendor landscape, believes Serge Melle.

Cisco announces a stronger, better, faster version of its edge routing platform, the ASR 9000 series and, in doing so, reminds us that there's a lot at stake with the arrival of 5G networks.

Ericsson's 5G transport partnership picks are telling.

Sales are up 12%, stock is up more than 13% and CEO Gary Smith's excitement level is through the roof.

Also in today's regional roundup: Gigabit broadband battle in Poland; Russians mull non-domestic Internet company tax; Dutch payment venfor on the tear; IBM's coffee drone.

One way to look at how much the industry is changing is to spend some time with an executive - and a company - that has stuck to the same formula and industry view for almost 20 years.

The CEO of one of the largest ISPs in the world isn't so keen to use artificial intelligence to manage its network. He just doesn't need it.

With the ZTE sales ban now lifted, optical components specialist Acacia is expecting a bump in second half sales and that's given its stock a welcome boost.

Infinera's proposed purchase of Coriant for $430 million sounds like a small price for lots of upside. But the integration will be a challenge – this tasty-sounding deal could go together like mustard and pancakes.

Infinera has offered to acquire Coriant for $430 million in cash and stock but the deal is truly complementary, not just a cost-cutting exercise, both companies say.

UK mobile operator Three UK is undergoing a revamp of its radio access network and supporting IT systems.

After 10 years of private ownership, Israeli media reports suggest optical transport specialist ECI Telecom is planning to list its stock again in a move that would value the company at about $650 million.

Why it makes sense for cable operators to distribute coherent packet-optical technology to the cable network edge.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT shareholders revolt over Patterson's package; ECI lands backbone deal in Lithuania; Exponential-e tackles multicloud.

More than half the communications services providers surveyed for this report expect to have 5G backhaul ready by 2020, even though they still do not know which vendors they plan to use for this step.

Quick, someone move those damn sunbeds further away from the water! Ray Le Maistre hits the beach in Nice to wax lyrical on what this year's NGON event has been all about: transport for 5G and the deployment of software in optical networks.

Automation may be a hot topic, but which manual processes are actually being handed over to the machines? At Telia Carrier, the optical service management team is set to automate a performance management task.

Ciena's Steve Alexander explains Ciena's strategy for injecting analytics and intelligence into the network, why the company acquired Packet Design and why Ciena is setting its sights on the Indian and Asian markets.

Cable R&D group is prepping its Full Duplex Coherent Optics effort to vastly increase the fiber capacity in the cable access network.

Ciena CTO Steve Alexander explains why some operators are leery of fully autonomous networks, and how Ciena is collaborating with carriers to prepare for 5G deployments with platforms like the Adaptive Network.

Module vendors team up to develop interoperable coherent 100G and 200G modules that, they hope, will help them corner the lion's share of the telco metro optical market.

Ciena announces disappointing fiscal second quarter margins and the proposed acquisition of automated IP network optimization and analytics specialist Packet Design.

Ed Morche says the company will continue to invest in wireline infrastructure and focus on the best on-net service experience.

US President cites loss of Chinese jobs as key reason for a reprieve... but US jobs were at risk too.

Heavy hitters in cable, open source and optical networking make up the five women who are shortlisted for the Hedy Lamarr-inspired Female Tech Pioneer of the Year category.

Latest initiative, ODTN Project, takes aim at integrated optical networking gear with disaggregation, open source software.

ZTE hits back at US Dept. of Commerce's 'denial order' that bans US component firms from selling to the Chinese vendor for seven years, raises prospect of 'judicial measures' and questions its own survival.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Lycamobile strikes WiFi deal; French government trials home-grown WhatsApp; Com Hem profits down.

As part of an ongoing dispute, the US Department of Commerce bans component sales to ZTE.

The optical community was buzzing at this year's OFC event, fueled in part by 5G expectations and developments from the likes of Ciena, Coriant, Infinera, Nokia and NeoPhotonics.

Austin, Texas, is the place to be May 14-16 when Light Reading will host BCE 2018 and dig deep into automation, security, machine learning, the impact of open source, intent-based networking, 'the edge', SD-WAN, IoT and more... Join me at the Big Communications Event (BCE) -- for more information, click here.

The ON2020 panel at this year's OFC provided insight into the challenges faced by network operators and the technologies that will be required in future optical networks.

Never mind the days, there are only HOURS remaining before the door closes on this year's Leading Lights awards deadline...

At OFC 2018, Ethernet Alliance Chairman John D'Ambrosia explains why he's brought not one, but two holy grails to the show, and what heroic deeds must be completed in order to obtain them.

As one of the optical industry's key jamborees drew to a close, Heavy Reading senior analyst and optical networking industry celebrity Sterling Perrin discussed developments in 600G transport, probabilistic constellation shaping and other key trends from this year's OFC.

Chinese operator believes it will need to deploy more than 2 million basestations to provide its 5G coverage as it appeals to the optical community for more innovation that can help support the expected 5G and cloud traffic loads.

It was the PIC of the bunch! Lumentum sends the OFC crowds into a frenzy with a $1.8B optical components marriage.

The shift to 400G is not only imminent but possible, argues Ciena's Helen Xenos.

There's talk swirling the optical transport sector that Cisco is window-shopping for a packet-optical transport systems specialist.

As demand for 100G to 400G network interfaces grows, companies are meeting the challenge and many operators are already making the transition to 400G.

There are only a few weeks left to enter this year's Leading Lights awards, so don't delay!

Two companies with history as industry disruptors come together into a more powerful challenge, says GTT CEO Rick Calder.

There was significant interest in acquiring Interoute but the winning bid for the cloud-savvy network operator came from GTT.

Being deployed in Verizon's production network is a massive endorsement for network controller startup Sedona Systems, and one that will likely start a bidding war for the company.

Transport network management startup Sedona Networks is deployed and in production in Verizon's network, enabling the operator to introduce automated processes, the companies have confirmed.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Facebook evangelizes in Europe; Telia Carrier lands Costa Rican contract; Deutsche Telekom takes IoT offer to Brazil.

If you're going to talk to Heavy Reading Senior Analyst Sterling Perrin about optical disaggregation, be sure to light his touch paper by throwing in a reference to the optical white box phenomenon.

CFO says acquisition to boost the software business could be a possibility in 2018.

Industry body's MEF 3.0 initiative goes beyond Carrier Ethernet specs to focus on how service providers interconnect to deliver next-gen offerings.

New specs will be released incrementally, and certification will become a subscription-based process.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodacom's H1 revenues rise; new 100G link between China and Russia; du's buys into IoT messaging platform.

The Telecom Infra Project is moving into areas such as AI and network slicing, as founder Facebook pushes universal connectivity.

New edge access and aggregation boxes promise greater capacity and future-proof path to adding compute power.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Colt expands Asia-Pacific network with Ciena; Telefonica integrates security features with Microsoft Azure; Ofcom clamps down on broadband ads.

As hyperscale players grow data center infrastructure globally, subsea cable operator is expanding to meet that connectivity need.

Demand calls for another optical transport evolution, this time in the management of optical network resources.

Data center operator says cables and landing stations aren't impacted but where the traffic goes next might be.

Wave encryption service offers standardized approach for securing data traffic in transit at the optical layer.

As the vendor prepares to cut 10% of its headcount following the acquisition of MRV, lower than expected orders hit the vendor's Q3 sales and margin numbers.

Infinera can't wait for CenturyLink and Level 3 to finish that merger.

Widespread deployment of 100G connections in data centers and across networks is driving demand for 400G solutions and funding development of 400G components.

ADVA's share price takes a 15% hit following an earnings report that cited 'turbulent times' and a 'subdued' sales outlook but there won't be any job cuts, the CEO says.

Challenging the dominance of coherent detection, direct detection modulation has re-emerged as an economically viable option in metro data center interconnection (DCI).

ADVA's CEO Brian Protiva believes the acquisition of fellow optical and carrier Ethernet vendor MRV can deliver key Tier 1 accounts, upsell opportunities and immediate bottom-line gains.

Optical giant ADVA aims to gather more customers outside Europe.

Colt CTO Rajiv Datta talks about the impact of SDN and NFV, how data centers are now at the core of the telecoms ecosystem and how network and services evolution is being built around enterprise demands.

Optical vendor beefs up the metro platform it brought on board with the Transmode acquisition and says there are still plans to add PIC technology to the XTM system.

Building the best team at Ciena and opening up new market opportunities means incorporating diversity of all kinds, according to its director of business development, Emmanuelle Cahane.

CEO sees today's positive financial results as proof its long-term investment strategy is paying off during an industry shakeout period.

Successful demo paves way for adding bandwidth more easily and combining business, backhaul and residential services on access fiber.

New SDNow service first of company's new offers and targets wholesale market linking data centers, carrier hotels and PoPs.

New routes and new PoPs in Milan help its customers push their content closer to the end users in multiple markets.

Check out which companies made this year's components award shortlist and why.

Optical vendor is still suffering from pricing pressure and customers' capex constraints.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: O2 IPO rumor resurfaces; Orange teams up with Facebook on accelerator program; Telekom Austria's Q1; CityFibre's full year.