Ciena backs off BLC market

Ciena is backing off of its commitment to the international broadband loop carrier market, chief executive officer Gary Smith said today at an analyst event, and is likely to write off some of its efforts there as good will.

“We do not believe we’ll be able to be successful leveraging that,” Smith said of the CN 1000, which Ciena inherited through its acquisition of Catena Networks and positioned for fiber triple-play markets. “We’re reducing our investment on that.”

Ciena cut 119 employees during its most recent fiscal quarter, largely from a location in Ottawa that Ciena inherited through its acquisition of Catena.

The statement came amid a discussion of Ciena’s strategy of branching out into several markets in recent years, some through acquisition.

“We as a company have placed a number of bets,” Smith said. “Some of those bets we’ve not always got right. Some we’ve got to refine. Some are going very well and require more investment.”

To improve margins of Ciena’s lowest-margin products--those in the long-haul and metro transport markets, Ciena hopes to transition those two markets to regional transport and next-generation metro transport products, respectively.

“The retooling of the company is not complete,” Smith said, while praising the company’s progress so far. “We clearly have more work to do.”