Ciena's Web-scale Networking Technology Recognized by IHS Markit

The challenges current network infrastructure faces are increasing because of the massive explosion of Web traffic. This has resulted in data center operators, enterprises and telecoms applying Web-scale capabilities to keep pace with the demand on their infrastructure. Ciena was recognized by service providers in the IHS (News - Alert) Markit Leadership Survey for its ability to deliver Web-scale networking solutions and as an overall leader in six of the nine categories of its annual marketplace survey.

The 2016 Optical Equipment Vendor Leadership Global Service Provider Survey by IHS Markit was carried out online, telephone and in-person to assess the opinions of global service providers to determine what they thought about a particular vendor. This includes the different factors that went into their purchasing decisions, evaluation of a particular product or service and their perception of the vendor.

“Our annual Optical Equipment Vendor Leadership Global Service Provider Survey aims to quantify service provider perceptions of vendor leadership in established and emerging segments of optical networking, as well as against key purchasing decision criteria. In this year’s study, Ciena stood out as the top overall optical transmission and switching supplier,” said Heidi Adams, Senior Research Director, Transport Networks, IHS Markit.

The solutions Ciena provides were cited in Optical Transmission and Switching, Data Center Interconnect (DCI), Packet-Optical Transport Systems (P-OTS) and Transport Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Control Plane as a leading supplier in these key categories, which, according to IHS, highlighted its overall brand strength.

The company was also perceived as having the broadest optical transmission portfolio, which is key to delivering the technology needed to provide Web-scale networking capabilities for a range of deployments, including metro, long-haul, subsea, DCI and software-defined networking (SDN). Regarding DCI, more than two-thirds, or 68 percent, of the respondents said they have selected Ciena as a leader, which was the second consecutive year the company achieved the same result.

“It is a great honor to know that service providers perceive Ciena above all other vendors in the optical market. This recognition comes from the combination of high levels of customer trust, the strategic partnerships our team facilitates and how strongly our technology performs against the competition in the marketplace,” said Francois Locoh-Donou, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Ciena.

The brand strength of Ciena in Web-scale networking capabilities according to the service providers in the survey and IHS also include: continued focus on software solutions; acquisition of key assets such as Cyan; technology innovation; R&D investment; the scope of its solutions; product reliability; service and support; and management software.