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Technology Stocks : Ciena (CIEN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Techplayer who wrote (9980)	12/13/2000 11:25:45 PM
From: James Fulop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12623

>>I commented at the time that CIEN does not have a great track record with their acquisitions since Omnia essentially cost CIEN over 1.5 billion at today's price and the box has never been sold and won't be sold.<< Actually Ciena has done okay with their acquisitions...Lightera comes to mind (as it was behind the CoreDirector which seems to be well received...) You are right about the Omnia acquisition, although to be accurate Ciena did say a couple of quarters ago that it did sell some EdgeDirectors with a special feature set to a client and that it would be incorporating the EdgeDirector functions in the CoreDirector and other products...

To: Techplayer who wrote (9980)	12/14/2000 8:19:02 AM
From: jghutchison	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12623

Techplayer, I believe you are mistaken about the Omnia acquisition. It was not $1.5 billion. It was closer to $400 million as I recall. You can check the Ciena archives to get the correct figure. I also disagree with your comments on Ciena's acquisition track record. The Lightera acquisition,which brought in the CoreDirector, is a blockbuster. Lightera was also acquired for less than $500 million. Compare that to the $7 Billion that Cisco paid for Cerent, the sister company of Cyras. Although the EdgeDirector appears to be a marketing failure, it was not a technical failure. Furthermore, if you believe for one minute that the talent brought in with the Omnia acquisition has been wasted, you are sadly mistaken. Those highly skilled, and highly desirable ASIC and systems designers were reassigned to develop the CoreDirector CI, and other new cutting edge technology. They are an outstanding team. It is no coincidence that Ciena brought in a highly qualified M&A specialist to the board. Ciena is on the prowl. The rumored Cyras acquistion makes a lot of sense to me, and I believe it would be embraced by Wall Street. The timing is perfect. The market for these second generation edge access SONET switches is immense and growing fast. Cisco's Cerent box alone is reportedly generating an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion after 18 months. Redback's Siara box is also doing very well. If the rumors prove out, I have no doubt that Ciena will capture a healthy portion of that market, and show Cisco how to make a better buggy whip. Jack Hutchison