Comment (3)Is Infinera ready to tackle a 100G metro market that at least one other vendor says is already ramping up? That is likely to be one of the questions that comes up as the optical vendor conducts its first-quarter earnings call Wednesday afternoon.
Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN) has been at work on a version of its PIC for the metro market. Although it has been vague about where a metro product may stand, Infinera CEO Tom Fallon likely will be pressed on Wednesday's call for details about the company's plans for a metro version of its DTN platform.
Infinera has taken a decidedly glass-half-full view of the 100G market, saying that, despite much contract activity in the last year, it is not expected to peak for another few years. That suggests the metro 100G market remains in an even more nascent state. However, Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) has said that the metro market for 100G already is ramping up this year (See Infinera: We're Fine, Thanks…, Infinera Shifts Up a Gear, and Ciena Fans 100G Metro Flames.)
Infinera is coming off a fourth quarter in which it reported decent earnings, but during which it became apparent that it had missed out on a major 100G contract from Verizon Communications, which went with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) instead. Earlier in the first quarter, Infinera was able to report some better contract news with a win at Windstream Communications. (See Analyst: Infinera Loses VZ Deal to AlcaLu and Windstream Taps Infinera for National Buildout.)
Wednesday's call also will mark the quarterly earnings call debut of Infinera CFO Brad Feller, who slid into that job March 1 after former CFO Ita Brennan left the company. Analyst consensus seems to be that Infinera will be upbeat about the first quarter, even though it is typically the slowest quarter. Some analyst estimates for quarterly revenue are around $140 million, which would represent a 12% increase of the first quarter of 2013.
— Dan O'Shea, Managing Editor, Light Reading
