Packets Pay Off

1:50 PM Ciena's Carrier Ethernet acquisition is bearing fruit

June 11, 2010

1 Min Read
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1:50 PM -- Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) may still be going through the integration pains of its Nortel Networks Ltd. optical division acquisition, but one of its previous purchases, World Wide Packets (WWP), is starting to bear fruit. (See Ciena Loses Out on MEN Deferrals and Ciena's Q2 Let Down by MEN.)

And no one could blame Ciena CEO Gary Smith if he cocked a snook at some in the industry and said, "I told you so!"

When Ciena snapped up WWP in a deal valued at $305 million in early 2008, eyebrows were raised. (See Ciena Takes Out World Wide Packets and Did Ciena Overpay for WWP?.)

But Ciena's Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery (CESD) division this week reported an 85 percent sequential hike in quarterly revenues to $74.8 million, with Smith noting that WWP gear, which AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is using in its mobile backhaul links, is responsible for most of those sales.

CESD's level of quarterly revenues is likely to be "variable," Smith admitted, but the division now has more than 100 customers, so it looks like Ciena might soon be able to pat itself on the back for the WWP acquisition, and hope for similar developments with the former Nortel business.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading

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