"We will bring 400G in 2012" - Gary B Smith, president and CEO, Ciena

Gary B Smith has been Ciena's CEO for the last 11 years. Prior to his current role, Smith has held various positions like chief operating officer, senior vice president (worldwide sales), and vice president (international sales). He has served as vice president, sales and marketing for both Intelsat and Cray Communications. Smith is also a member of President Obama's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. He currently serves on the board of directors for Avaya and CommVault Systems and is the commissioner of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission.

Smith is a broadband ambassador for the Internet Innovation Alliance and participates in initiatives at the Center for Corporate Innovation. Speaking to VOICE&DATA, Smith talked about: Trends in Indian telecom, Ciena's strategy for India, R&D, local manufacturing, engagements with RIL, and enterprise strategy. Excerpts-

What are some of the trends in the telecom space and what's your India strategy?

There are 3 mega trends in the telecom space. First is mobility and it is not mobile phone only, but proliferation of all kinds of devices. Second is the phenomena of virtualization and third is M2M which is nascent in nature and is outside the area of mobile phone. Most of the demands are willing to move through, but some demands like virtualization have not yet started.

Looking at the India opportunity for the last seven years, Ciena is a great fit. The value positioning specifically in terms of growth of network architecture, inflexion point, and regulatory challenges opens up new opportunities in terms of network modernization. The network support trends, convergence, and multi-service network have resulted in having a resilient fiber network across the country and all this opens up a new opportunity for Ciena.

We have around 500 employees in India and we are looking to continue to expand our center of excellence of software engineering and global competency center. With more and more network architecture being software based, we see India as a key growth market for Ciena and we will continue to expand our India competency center. The India center is also the largest R&D center outside of North America.

What is Ciena's role in creating a next-generation network in the country?

One of the key things in terms of creating a broadband network is a good network architecture. From customer experience point of view, the new applications should have the right kind of network and the right kind of intelligence. One cannot provide the right capacity, at the right place, and at the right time if they do not have the intelligence. So, there is a fundamental shift in the mindset of service providers.

The company has always envisioned an intelligent network and made lot of investment in the last ten years in terms of converged network, true multi-service network, and high resilient network. In many ways, Ciena is extremely well positioned on 3 mega trends. We are moving step-by-step and enabling service providers to make that shift happen, and it is matter of deploying new technologies by migrating traffic to a single converged network like OTN, converged plane, and 100G.

What is the total number of patents filed from Ciena India and how do you look at the India opportunity?

The scope of what we do in India is large. We focus on an integrated network management and an integrated control plane. In terms of people and number of patents, we are the largest center outside of North America. Our focus is also on convergence of portfolios be it high-capacity transport, 3rd-generation-pioneered OTN, and pioneered control panel. All these technologies are pertinent to India.

In 2012, we will see 100G deployment in the country and our focus is submarine, long distance, and metro network. We will deploy 100G network in metro market up from 40G which we have already deployed. We are talking to all the major operators as they are focusing on backbone rollout in a big way. We are also looking at increase in traffic leading to more equipment deployment in the metro area for majority of the carriers. A couple of carriers in India have deployed integrated control panel.

We will bring 400G in 2012. In terms of 3rd generation wavelogic technology which is proprietary to Ciena, we are way ahead vis-a-vis our competitors. The first deployment of 100G happened in 2009 and presently the focus is on putting intelligence into the terminal. The industry is following us and the unique part is to demonstrate capacity that work within the customers.

NTP 2011 talks about local manufacturing by telecom equipment manufacturers. What are Ciena's plans with respect to India manufacturing?

We don't manufacture ourselves and we don't outsource manufacturing to India, but we use partners for manufacturing.

Have you started engagement with RIL as the company is initially focusing on creating a backbone network?

We continue to engage with the most of the major carriers in India. Our history with Reliance go a long way and we have helped RIL to deploy their first network.

The Cable TV digitization is planned to be completed in 2 years. What would be Ciena's role in the digitization process?

Lot of cable companies globally like Comcast have been using Ciena products and we are a big provider in the Cable TV market. There is an opportunity in India when Cable TV begins to opens up as the company provides switching, OTN, Carrier Ethernet, and Ethernet business services to SME. So, Cable TV opens up a multitude of opportunity for us.

National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) is also another opportunity for Ciena in India. How do you plan to leverage this opportunity?

NOFN is a national broadband strategy for the country. It is an opportunity for us and it will depend on how it gets rolled out, who is going to participate and what kind of structure would be deployed. NOFN will take different shapes and forms, some technical or political and generate lot of bandwidth and all bandwidth is good bandwidth.

Ciena's has been leading technology leadership for the next-generation network by coming out with a cutting edge technology before industry. Whom would you attribute this success?

It is always related to people. The team that we put together after integration with Nortel is a strong team and it is both specific to Indian market place and global. In terms of technology leadership, we continue to do so as we have great people with the coming together of Nortel and Ciena. From Ciena side, control panel, switching and from Nortel side, MEN and a high-capacity transport network. And this combination is working.

We have increased market share in convergence space. The engagement model with customers is also people and customer intimacy is also high. So, first and foremost is people as people create technology and people create relationship. We work with class people who can work together.

How does Ciena look at the India opportunity in the next 2-3 years?

I am very opportunistic, about India after conversation with service providers, as they have ambitious and aggressive plan. There are also lot of business models floating. We are looking at a very strong investment in next 2-3 years in infrastructure build-out from India as the country has got a visionary enterprise.

The country has got challenges like regulatory, but an open market and attractive marketplace for innovative companies like Ciena opens up many opportunities. The country has got the environment and ecosystem to make that reality as it has got all the key ingredients. It is a highly competitive market but they also want a leading technology. Ciena is very good as it provides the latest invention which is appreciated by the major carriers. We will bring lot of value to these carriers in India, as opposed to the lowest price and many of the carriers do see that value.