Ciena Corp. / CIEN

About Ciena Corp.

1201 Winterson Rd., Linthicum, Md. 21090
www.ciena.com | 410-694-5700 | Founded: 1992

Industry: Telecommunications | Category: Top 100 Companies

After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Ciena reduced its workforce to about 1,500 employees from 4,000. The company's strategy for survival has been to expand its product line by acquiring other companies. In the past five years, it has bought six telecommunications companies.
It has also sought overseas contracts. In March, Dreamline, a broadband service provider in South Korea, agreed to use Ciena equipment to upgrade its network. In October, Interoute Communications of London chose Ciena to upgrade and expand its Eastern European voice and data network.
It has been a slow recovery, but late last year, Ciena posted its first quarterly profit in five years. In its fourth quarter, which ended in October, it reported profit of $13.1 million, compared with a loss of $252.9 million in the comparable quarter the previous year. Revenue rose with a deal with Verizon for a transatlantic network and an agreement with British Telecom to switch its network to Ethernet-based technology.
Even though the company lost money the three previous quarters, that strong ending was enough for it to post a profit of $595,000 for fiscal 2006. The year before, the company lost $435.7 million. The first quarter of 2007 was also promising, with an $11.1 million profit. Big orders from Verizon Business and Cox Communications boosted revenue. The company added about 100 jobs in the quarter.
In September, the company implemented a 1-for-7 reverse stock split to increase its share price and attract more investors. Last month, Joseph Chinnici, Ciena's chief financial officer, said he would resign by year-end.

Executive chairman: Patrick H. Nettles

President and CEO: Gary B. Smith

2007 Financial Data

Total employees: 1,485 | Local employees: 600