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Net Optics, Inc., the leading provider of Intelligent Network Access and Monitoring Architecture, today announces the availability of its boundary-breaking Flex Tap -- the first on the market to pass the 100G milestone. The slender Flex Tap's advanced features, along with ultra-high performance in a compact format, open up new horizons of productivity and cost-effectiveness.

With space at a premium in the data center, the compact Flex Tap's ability to fit up to 24 taps in a 1U panel, along with support for 1G, 10G, 40G and 100G implementations represents a leap forward in value and cost-savings.

"In developing Flex Tap, we were aiming at more than the 100G boundary," said Daniel Aharon, Senior Director of Product Management. "We wanted to bring customers a Tap solution with a spectrum of truly innovative benefits -- high scalability, the versatility to mix-and-match speeds and connectors within a deployment, the highest visibility and compatibility, simplified upgrade and rack mount ability, along with other cost and space saving advantages."

Net Optics Inc.

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced a strategic agreement with the Russian telecoms operator VimpelCom, for the upgrade and expansion of its national optical network. Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, powered by WaveLogic™ coherent optical processors, will be deployed in network links extending over approximately 10,700 km. This includes the upgrade of the Moscow - Urals and Urals - Siberia connections and the southern part of the Western Russia network (the ‘Big European Ring’), as well as the construction of a 100G network in the far eastern part of the country. “The roll-out of LTE services and increase in broadband usage, coupled with the prospect of new data-heavy enterprise services, dictate that VimpelCom’s core network must be ready. In collaboration with Ciena we developed an optimized architecture for our national network that will provide VimpelCom with operational effectiveness, both in terms of ease of implementation and scalability. Moreover, the network upgrade will cause no disruption to existing services and ensure VimpelCom continues to meet customers’ expectations,” Alexey Sapunov, Transport Network Director at OJCS VimpelCom. VimpelCom Ltd

Optical networking specialist Optelian is accompanying the Honourable Ed Fast, Canada’s Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway on a trade mission to Southeast Asia. In conjunction with this trade mission, Optelian is pleased to announce that Myanmar Post and Telegraph (MPT) is utilizing Optelian’s LightGAIN Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) systems for its cellular backhaul and backbone network. MPT is installing a state-of-the-art wireless infrastructure throughout the country with support and installation services from Myanmar World Distribution.

“MPT chose Optelian’s DWDM system for their backhaul network as it is the best fit for their operational requirements,” comments Josephine Su, Director of Myanmar World Distribution. “Their next-generation transport network requires a highly scalable solution with support for Ethernet services. The flexible LightGAIN system architecture, with its integrated Ethernet aggregation functionality and its quality and reliability, addresses the demands of MPT’s network growth and challenging environmental conditions.”

“We are proud to have this opportunity to participate in Myanmar’s telecom infrastructure development and to contribute to its economic development,” says Mike Perry, President of Optelian. “To support rapid growth, smart mobile devices, and high bandwidth applications, we have worked with Myanmar World Distribution to create a scalable design, using state-of-the-art network technologies, to future-proof the MPT network.”

Optelian

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) started an optical communications stock price avalanche yesterday when it reported results from its fiscal third quarter of 2012. The fact that the company lost $29.8 million on a GAAP basis was bad enough. But when Ciena, which previously had done a better job than most of its competitors in increasing revenues despite the overall slowdown in the global economy, issued a down forecast for the upcoming quarter, many investors took that as a sign to head for the exits.

The optical transport systems vendor’s stock lost 20% of its value yesterday, closing at $13.46, after it reported $474.1 million in revenue for the quarter ended July 31. While that figure was essentially flat versus the previous quarter’s $477.6 million, it marked an 8.9% improvement year-over-year. Yet that bit of good news could not stand up to the disappointment created when Ciena management said they expect revenues for the current quarter to fall between $455 million and $480 million. This range fell well short of consensus forecasts of $501 million. Taking Ciena’s guidance as a sign that an expected rebound in carrier spending will not be as robust as hoped (if it happens at all), investors hammered both Ciena and other stocks in the sector. (To follow the performance of optical communications stocks, bookmark the Lightwave Optical Index.)

Speaking to analysts on an earnings call yesterday morning, CEO, President, and Director Gary Smith said that growing weakness in Europe and the fact that North American carriers were taking longer than expected to “operationalize” networks for which the company has supplied equipment offset comparative success in Asia Pacific and CALA in the third quarter. He said that he expects these trends to continue as well, which led to the disappointing forecast for fiscal 4Q12.

While he offered no predictions on when the situation in Europe would turn, he said that he expects North American carriers will indeed continue to buy and install Ciena equipment based on previously shared plans.

“In the dialogue that we're having with our major customers in North America, I would say that none of them are backing off from their strategic deployments and adoption of their infrastructure,” Smith asserted on the call. “That is not, I think, what is affecting the rollout of those new networks. I think it is more around the ability to operationalize those wins.

“And our assumption going into 2013 is the macro doesn't get appreciably any better,” he added.

Nevertheless, Smith expressed confidence that Ciena could continue to grow in such an environment by taking market share, particularly in such relatively new areas for the company as metro networking.

Author Stephen Hardy
Editorial Director and Associate Publisher