The telecommunication and network specialist, Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced that it has received regulatory approval for the proposed acquisition of substantially all of Nortel Network Corp.'s (NT) optical and Ethernet division.   The company has been granted termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act in the United States. The Canadian Competition Bureau has also approved the takeover.  Ciena plans to acquire substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of its rival Nortel Networks’ Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division, for a total of $521 million ($390 million in cash and 10 million in shares worth $142 million based on the Oct. 15 market price).  However, the deal also requires the approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Nortel had filed for bankruptcy in January.  The deal is ...

The telecommunications and network equipment company Ciena Corporation (CIEN) has received the Court’s approval to begin bidding for Nortel Network Corp.'s (NT) optical and Ethernet division. The judges also said that Nov. 9 will be the deadline for bids and scheduled the auction for Nov. 13. Ciena plans to acquire substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of its rival Nortel Networks’ Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division, for a total of $521 million ($390 million in cash and 10 million in shares worth $142 million based on the Oct. 15 market price). The company expects to incur integration-related costs of approximately $180 million, the majority of which will be paid in 2010, and expects the transaction to be significantly accretive in fiscal 2011. The deal is subject to a competitive bidding process under the United States Bankruptcy Code and the Canadian Companies' ...

Yesterday, telecommunications and network equipment company Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced the acquisition of substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of its rival Nortel Networks’ (NT) Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division, for a total of $521 million ($390 million in cash and 10 million in shares worth $131 million based on the Oct. 6 market price). Ciena will take over Nortel’s long-haul optical transport portfolio, metro optical Ethernet switching and transport solutions, Ethernet transport, aggregation and switching technology, multiservice SONET/SDH product families and network management software products. Moreover, Ciena expects to incur integration-related costs of approximately $180 million, the majority of which will be paid in 2010 and expects the transaction to be significantly accretive in fiscal 2011. Nortel had filed for bankruptcy protection back in January in Canada, and has since then planned to sell off its assets. Nortel had ...

Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced better-than-expected results for the third quarter ended July 31 amid cautious consumer spending and weak demand. However, the more stable macro economic environment helped it deliver sequential growth, although year over year comparisons have been weak. Revenue of $164.8 million was down 34.9% year over year but increased 14.4% sequentially and beat the Zacks Consensus estimate of $156.0 million. Revenue for the quarter included $139.9 million in product revenue, which was down 37.4% from the year-ago period, and $24.9 million in services revenue, down 15.8% year over year. Ciena narrowed its non-GAAP (excluding one-time and non-cash items) net loss for the quarter to 5 cents from a net loss of 25 cents in the previous quarter. This was, however, down from the year-ago period of a net income of 37 cents, but beat the Zacks Consensus estimate of a 21 cent net ...

Tellabs Inc. (TLAB) recently agreed to supply its secure and highly reliable 7100 Optical Transport System to the US Army. Leading defense contractor General Dynamics (GD) selected Tellabs’ 7100 series transport level router. This system will be implemented between two largest army bases in the U.S. - White Sands Missile Range and Forte Bliss Range Complex. The deployment will be part of the U.S. Army’s Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program.

Tellabs’ Government System business provides converged advanced optical networking and services layer technologies onto one seamless platform. It operates with other government system integrators to reduce cost, complexity, space and power needs of telecom networks. Besides traditional telecom carriers, the company is expanding its market share among multi-service operators, particularly within the cable TV segment. Tellabs just received orders for its 7100 systems from two major cable TV operators.

The company has decided to substantially focus on

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Ciena Corp. (CIEN) is expected to announce third-quarter on Sept. 3. Based on improved order flow, the company expects to deliver sequential revenue growth. Gross margin is expected to be in the mid-to-high 40% range.

However, higher-than-expected prototype costs are likely to affect quarterly results. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be in the low $80 million range. The company sees its tax obligation to be mostly related to non-US regions.

Ciena’s second-quarter results were disappointing as the sales cycle lengthened due to cautious spending by Tier 1 carriers, given the economic uncertainty. The company’s data networking remained weak. This indicates that Ciena would be better off continuing with its strength in optical products such as core switching rather than diverting attention to data networking such as Ethernet.

The company’s balance sheet was reasonably sound and it exited the second quarter with $1.07 million in cash, short- and

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We have a neutral rating on Ciena Corp. (CIEN), as the company's FlexSelect platform has been gaining momentum. It allows carriers to transition networks to carrier grade Ethernet. We believe the acquisition of World Wide Packets will further strengthen its base.

The provider of optical networking equipment, software and services diversified beyond emerging carriers, and now counts the world's largest telecom service providers as its customers, including Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), BT Group (BT) and Qwest Communications (Q).

Ciena's cost cutting efforts will trim operating expenses, helping it achieve breakeven results in the coming quarters.

Moreover, the company has a healthy balance sheet with improving cash metrics. The company exited the current quarter with $922.6 million in cash and short-term investments, compared to $917.0 million in the previous quarter. Long-term debt (convertible notes payable) at the end of the quarter remained at $798.0 million.

However, the company's sales

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• Tellabs (NASDAQ:TLAB) announced a $200 million share buyback plan; its Chairman

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• Corning (NYSE:GLW) reported second quarter earnings of 39 cents a share that beat estimates by 7 cents a share, on in-line revenues of $1.4 billion, down 17.6%

• Honeywell (NYSE:HON) reported in-line second quarter earnings of 60 cents a share, as revenues increased 22% to $7.6 billion versus estimates of $7.73 billion.  The firm cautioned "Economic conditions, however, remain challenging and we are not planning for any recovery in 2009." It expects second quarter earnings of $2.85 a share, up from the consensus estimates of $2.82

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Recently, Linthicum, CIENA (CIEN) Maryland-based, an OEM of optical networking equipment, software, and services announced that its Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery (CESD) platform has been deployed by Clearwire (CLWR) for the newly launched CLEAR 4G mobile WiMAX service.  Clearwire is using Ciena’s LE-311v Service Delivery Switches, CN 5305 Service Aggregation Switches and Ethernet Services Manager software for its 4G backhaul solution. The Ethernet Services Manager’s intelligent software automation will help Clearwire build and deploy large-scale backhaul networks using platforms that can be installed, configured, provisioned and remotely reprogrammed at higher speed, thereby reducing costs and accelerating service delivery.  We believe Ciena’s focus on helping carriers transition to next generation networks places it in one of the fastest growing portions of the telecommunications market. Also Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet platform enables differentiation and provides a competitive advantage to the company. Because Ethernet is a standard, service providers can ...