FAST FORWARD

Richard Notebaert, president and CEO of Tellabs, is sitting where a lot of CEOs would like to be — on top of almost $1 billion in cash. With the acquisition of Ocular Networks completed, many are speculating the company will go on a buying spree. Don't hold your breath, though. Notebaert recently spoke with Executive News Editor Vince Vittore.

On integrating the Ocular acquisition: We speak the same language. Over time, as we develop scalability, [Ocular's products] fit right in. The Titan 5500 is in every carrier, and that's something we're proud of. You don't replace a workhorse. You complement it. You could not have asked for better reaction from our customers.

On the downturn: We don't have better visibility, just a better handle on what is taking place. We didn't recognize it early enough or we might have been more restrained with our expansive growth. We look now on a real-time basis. We're in constant contact with our biggest customers. We have newer data points now that we didn't have before, and as a result we have a better handle on it. But you have to remember that visibility is only as good as our customers', and they haven't really had much.

On the cash position: Just having large piles of cash is only part of it. The rest is that we have no debt. We have a pristine balance sheet. And times like these are times of opportunity; if you are disciplined [then] you are watchful for opportunities to explore [acquiring] companies. We talked about a stock buyback, but there's no value in buying your stock back at this point.

On future acquisition: There might be another Ocular. We get about a call a week from companies that want to be acquired. You listen to every one of them. Two weeks ago I had a guy come in and say they might fit perfectly. I said I'd close it down and put the money in the bank because I'd be serving the shareholders better. You have to start with strategic fit.

On downsizing: It's a horrible environment to be in. We've had to lay off 40% of the company, and that hurts. These are our friends. But if you go back and ask them, they would say it was hard although it was the right thing to do for the company.