Carrier spending remains cautious, but broadband data and video in particular are driving strong sales of IP router and switches. That’s the word from Infonetics in its Q2 report on service provider router and switch spending. Spending on carrier IP edge, IP core, carrier Ethernet and multi-service ATM switches grew 5% from Q1 to Q2 2010, with year-versus-year growth up 11%. Overall, Infonetics predicted the carrier router and switch market to reach its pre-recession 2008 levels next year, according to analyst Michael Howard.
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Archive for the ‘Carrier Ethernet’ Category
Routing/switching the ‘hero’ of still-laggard market
by Rich KarpinskiAugust 27th, 2010
No Comments Related Topics: Carrier Ethernet, IP/NGN |
Manufacturing in the U.S.A. — an Adtran photo blog
by Rich KarpinskiDecember 4th, 2009
So this week Adtran invited press and analysts down to Huntsville, Ala., for a debriefing on upcoming announcements and a tour, of among other things, its manufacturing facilities that build and assemble enterprise and carrier equipment here on U.S. soil, right in-house.
The company does ship high-volume manufacturing off-shore to contract manufacturing partners, but says managing first-runs and rush jobs locally — with its engineers and designers right in the next building — can actually save money when all costs are accounted for. Further, it gives the company insights into its own products that it claims competitors lack.
U.S-based manufacturing is so rare these days, we thought we would share a look. (more…)
No Comments Related Topics: 3G/4G, All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, IPTV, Optical, Residential Services, Telecom Jobs, Unified Communications |
Adtran focuses on multi-access economics, mobile backhaul opportunity
by Rich KarpinskiDecember 4th, 2009
Adtran this week opened up the doors to its Huntsville, Ala., headquarters to press and analysts to talk about a range of topics spanning its enterprise and carrier businesses.
On the service provider side of the house, the focus was on helping carriers drive IP and Ethernet ever deeper into the network while using Adtran’s multi-access platforms to affordably serve the mix of copper and fiber and TDM and Ethernet environments that are the reality today for most carriers.
Also on the agenda: opportunities in mobile backhaul, especially moving from bundled T1s to something more flexible, affordable and Ethernet-based; thoughts on broadband stimulus, national broadband and other funding scenarios; and the potential for blurring the unified communications lines between enterprise and carrier.
Plus: a tour of its on-campus manufacturing operations — a unique resource in an industry in which most manufacturing off-shored and outsourced. (more…)
No Comments Related Topics: 3G/4G, All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Optical, Unified Communications, VoIP |
Windstream acquires Iowa Telecom
by Ed GubbinsNovember 24th, 2009
Windstream (NYSE:WIN) is acquiring Iowa Telecom (NYSE:IWA), the company announced today, in its biggest acquisition since the initial merger that created the rural carrier in 2005.
Windstream’s $1.1-billion purchase comes just three weeks after its $643 million acquisition of another carrier, NuVox, and two weeks after it closed its acquisition of D&E Communications. Two months ago, the company acquired a small triple-play provider, Lexcom, for $141 million. (more…)
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Carrier Ethernet, Independent, Residential Services |
Ciena outbids NSN in Nortel auction
by Ed GubbinsNovember 23rd, 2009
Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) has outbid Nokia Siemens Networks (NYSE:NOK; NYSE:SI) to win the auction for Nortel Networks’ (OTC:NRTLQ) metro Ethernet and optical business unit.
Ciena agreed to pay about $769 million for the assets — $530 million in cash and $239 million in 6% senior convertible notes due 2017. It had originally bid about $521 million in cash and stock.
The Nortel unit reported $988 million in revenue for the first nine months of this year, down 21% from last year, and $377 million in gross profit (down 20% from 2008).
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Optical |
Ciena takes breather in Nortel auction, then raises bid, say reports
by Ed GubbinsNovember 22nd, 2009
Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) called for a break in last Friday’s auction for Nortel Networks’ (OTC:NRTLQ) optical and Ethernet business unit, taking the bidding into a second day, Reuters reported Saturday.
UPDATE: On Sunday, Reuters reported — again, citing unnamed sources — that Ciena had raised its bid from about $522 million to about $714 million, a mix of $500 million in cash and $214 million in convertible notes.
It’s hard to imagine Ciena winning a bidding war against the other known participant: the much more well-heeled Nokia Siemens Networks (NYSE:NOK; NYSE:SI), which is reportedly bidding jointly with private equity firm One Equity Partners. But NSN has its own internal challenges — predicting larger than expected market share losses this year and announcing a new round of layoffs.
I wonder if Ciena would fare any better if it could pull its own private equity partner into this fight as well. What do you think? Leave a comment.
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical |
NSN bids on Nortel unit with private equity partner
by Ed GubbinsNovember 18th, 2009
Nokia Siemens Networks and private equity firm One Equity Partners have jointly bid for Nortel Networks’ (OTCBB:NRTLQ) Metro Ethernet business, challenging Ciena’s (NASDAQ:CIEN) bid for those assets in advance of an auction to be held on Friday, Reuters is reporting.
NSN was expected to bid on the assets, which include Nortel’s optical gear, but NSN’s own current reorganization efforts complicated the picture. A joint bid with a partner could give it enough financial backing to overcome that complication, however.
Analysts have predicted that NSN would be able to beat much-smaller Ciena in a bidding war, not just because of its greater capitalization but because it would exact more synergies from such a deal that Ciena would, allowing it to pay a higher price. Ciena offered $521 million in cash and stock, which was originally estimated as slightly less than half of the 2009 revenue from Nortel’s Metro Ethernet unit. But its revenues dropped about 26% from a year earlier in the third quarter.
NSN was outbid for Nortel’s wireless assets this year by rival Ericsson.
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical, Service Delivery |
Ethernet, IP VPNs bright spots in data spending decline
by Ed GubbinsNovember 16th, 2009
The 2% drop projected this year for the US for wireline business data services market is the first decline In-Stat has seen in more than a decade of covering the sector.
Spending on wireline data services (which doesn’t include managed services such as hosted VoIP in In-Stat’s coverage) should stabilize next year before rebounding, reaching $25 billion by 2012 after dropping to $22.4 billion this year.
“Ethernet Services and IP VPN services are among the lone bright spots in the market,” In-Stat analyst David Lemelin said.
Spending on IP VPN services among small and medium businesses should grow 150% between last year and 2012, In-Stat said. And spending on Ethernet services among healthcare firms should triple in that time.
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Unified Communications |
Nortel postpones optical, Ethernet unit auction
by Ed GubbinsNovember 13th, 2009
Nortel Networks (OTCBB:NRTLQ) has postponed the auction of its Metro Ethernet Networks unit, which was scheduled to be held today.
“In light of ongoing discussions with interested parties, [Nortel] has decided to not hold the previously scheduled auction today in relation to the sale of its global Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses,” the company said in a statement today. “Qualified bidders are now required to submit offers by November 17, 2009.”
The news puts a damper on Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN), whose $521-million stalking-horse bid for Nortel’s assets (that’s slightly less than half of the unit’s 2009 revenue) would catapult its stature globally and domestically.
Other potential bidders may include Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Huawei, Tellabs, Cisco, and Infinera. In October, one analyst suggested that interest among potential buyers had waned in recent months, a notion that seems to bear more credence now that Nortel is seeking more time to attract alternative bids. More recently, however, UBS analyst Nikos Theodosopoulos called NSN a “likely active bidder” that could push the purchase price above $750 million. (more…)
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical |
XO in limbo after Icahn standoff
by Ed GubbinsNovember 11th, 2009
Carl Icahn’s withdrawal of his latest rejected offer to buy the 10% of XO Communications (OTC:XOHO) that he doesn’t already own leaves the company’s next move hard to predict.
Rob Powell at Telecom Ramblings has an interesting analysis of the conundrum the company now faces. And he throws cold water on some of the current speculation that XO might make an acquisition sometime soon.
XO stirred that speculation by writing in its third-quarter earnings report this week, “We believe that certain opportunities exist today in the highly competitive CLEC industry that may not recur such as, but not limited to, the acquisition of other CLECs.” That observation came in the context of the company defending its decision to raise cash without raising high-yield debt. How it will pull that off in Icahn’s orbit is one of the key questions facing XO.
No Comments Related Topics: All Stories, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Optical |