Archive for the ‘Optical’ Category
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…)
Related Topics: 3G/4G, All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, IPTV, Optical, Residential Services, Telecom Jobs, Unified Communications |
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…)
Related Topics: 3G/4G, All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Optical, Unified Communications, VoIP |
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).
(more…)
Related Topics: All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Optical |
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.
Related Topics: All Stories, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical |
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.
Related Topics: All Stories, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical, Service Delivery |
by Ed GubbinsNovember 16th, 2009
Utah’s multicity public fiber network, Utopia, is moving forward with a new model in which individual users pay the cost of connecting their homes with fiber.
Late last week, the Brigham City Council approved a $5.5-million plan to extend the wholesale fiber network throughout its streets. The city itself is putting up just $655,384 of that cost, while business and residential customers who want fiber are putting up the rest. (more…)
Related Topics: All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Optical |
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…)
Related Topics: All Stories, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical |
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.
Related Topics: All Stories, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Optical |
by Ed GubbinsOctober 29th, 2009
Now that the economy is regaining its footing, mergers and acquisitions in the service provider space should heat up, two carrier CEOs said this week.
Market conditions have become much more favorable to mergers in the last three months, Global Crossing (NASDAQ:GLBC) CEO John Legere said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call today, pointing to its refinancing of $750 million in debt last month as a sign of receptiveness in the capital markets. “I believe we’re in a different environment than even the last time we spoke,” he said. “The biggest change is (more…)
Related Topics: All Stories, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical |
by Ed GubbinsOctober 13th, 2009
Equipment vendors are beginning to unveil new optical and carrier Ethernet products in advance of next week’s Supercomm trade show. (more…)
Related Topics: 3G/4G, All Stories, Business Services, Carrier Ethernet, Global, Optical, WiMAX, Wireless |
