Ciena to Cut 55 Jobs in Outsourcing Move

Ciena later this year plans to lay off about 55 employees involved in distribution, repair and related activities, as it outsources those responsibilities to partners in the name of attaining supply chain efficiencies.

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) said in a statement, "As part of Ciena's long-term strategy to leverage strategic partners in our supply chain model for greater efficiencies and margin improvement, we have decided to outsource the distribution, repair and related activities that are currently carried out in Maryland." When contacted by Light Reading, a Ciena spokeswoman declined to identify the companies to which these responsibilities are being outsourced.

The cuts will not start until May, and will occur in staggered phases during May, August and October to give affected employees time to plan, the company said. The cuts amount to a little more than 1% of Ciena's full workforce of more than 5,100 employees.

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Ciena has been upbeat of late about its business prospects for this year. As major customers AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) have issued sobering capex outlooks, the company has insisted it's making headway in diversifying its market opportunities to include web firms and other customer types. Even amid the telcos' capex constraints, Ciena also has been seen as the favorite to win an upcoming contract from Verizon for metro 100G deployment. (See Ciena Upbeat Despite Q4 Loss and Ciena Seen as Verizon 100G Metro Favorite.)

— Dan O'Shea, Managing Editor, Light Reading