Tellabs: Joint sales initiatives paying off

Tellabs (NasdaqGS: TLAB) today said its joint sales efforts with service provider customers are paying off, as more than 34 dedicated enterprise networks have been deployed using the Tellabs 7100 Optical Transport System.

Tellabs is working with its service provider customers in joint sales efforts that target specific enterprise needs, as part of its Tellabs Business Services and Wavelength Services, said Stuart Bennington, director of global portfolio marketing. While Verizon Business is the only announced customer involved in the joint sales, other service providers are also engaged in delivering carrier Ethernet services, optical transport and other services over the Tellabs 7100 and other Tellabs gear.

Tellabs underwent a major initiative to “take the best in class of what we do and harmonize that across our access products,” Bennington said. “The goal was to get common implementations of quality of service, operations, administration and maintenance” and other features. Tellabs then focused on helping its customers solve their needs, using an end-to-end Tellabs approach.

“It is important to us to have that value-add,” Bennington said. Tellabs doesn’t want to compete with less-expensive transport vendors on price and is aware “that we aren’t the biggest vendor in the market either,” he said. The joint sales initiatives enable Tellabs to partner more closely with its customers, Bennington said. “We recognized the fact that we have an asset here, and as we help them address their customer needs, it underscores the partnership with Tellabs.”

One new approach involves deploying passive optical network (PON) technology all the way to the desktop, using optical network interface devices that closely resemble modems in size. The PON approach delivers reliable bandwidth for Ethernet at a power savings of up to 80%, while using 90% less space and saving 35% to 70% in overall costs. Tellabs is bringing the first enterprise GPON equipment to market that meets the Department of Defense JITC certification, Bennington said. The Tellabs 7100 is already JITC-certified and the Tellabs 1134/1150 systems are in the certification process right now, Bennington said.

“We portray this together as a solution, based on the economics,” Bennington said. “From a government standpoint, GPON is attractive because their paramount interest is in security and fiber is a more secure solution than copper. Having an end-to-end fiber play that includes both transport and access is very important.”