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Ciena

Ciena – The Pioneers of Optical Connectivity.

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Ciena is an American telecommunications networking company that has ruled the telecom industry. The company is one of the largest equipment and software services providers and has its headquarter located in Hanover, Maryland, United States. The company is around 30 years old and has been leading the game of networking ever since.

According to the 2019 records of the company, Ciena made $3.57 billion in revenues that year and around 7000 people are working for it, including 2700+ R&D specialists. Ciena has a strong client base, AT&T, Verizon Communications, Korea Telecom, and Sprint Corporation being some of them. The company operates in 35 countries having 60 offices globally.

The Founding Story of Ciena

Ciena started its journey as HydraLite in 1992. David R. Huber founded the company with a plan of applying fiber-optic technology to cable television. The company received its initial funding of $40 million from Sevin Rosen Funds, Charles River Ventures, Japan Associated Finance Co., and other local investors. Huber changed the name of the company to Ciena and established an office in Dallas in February 1994. Ciena launched its very first products in 1996, Sprint Corporation being the first client of the company.

After selling its first products, the company made an annual revenue of $195 million. By the year 1997, the company started to make new clients and established its headquarter in Maryland. The same year, in February, it went public on NASDAQ and valued at $3.4 billion, the largest for a startup at that time.

Ciena
Image Source: ciena.com

In the year 2001, Ciena was the second-largest manufacturer of fiber optic networking equipment in the US. But since due to the telecom crash, the technology shift took place, and the companies suffered huge pressure of serving the growing demand, Ciena too had to face some losses. Ciena leaders knew that with time they had to bring change to the company technology, so they changed the business strategy for the company. The company started to invest in other companies with diverse services. It acquired around five network companies between 2001 and 2005.

Ciena, by this time, had also started to strengthen its R&D department and built the first converged packet-optical platform that reduced the requirement of the amount of equipment to set up a network. In 2009, Ciena made $39 million in profits after making sales worth $902 million. In the next ten years, the company had a raised manpower to 5,345 people. Reportedly, the company revenue for the year 2017 was approximately $2.8 billion. Ciena also appeared on the Fortune 1000 list a few times.

Products and Services

Ciena is the producer and supplier of network equipment, software, and services for the telecommunication department. The company also provides assistance to cloud service firms as well as companies offering voice and data traffic on communications networks. Optical switches, routing platforms, and equipment for undersea cable networks are some of Ciena’s major products. Ciena has also developed machine-learning algorithm-based software programs like Blue Planet that help companies program their communication networks.

Acquisitions by the Company

Ciena
Image Source: mergr.com

Ciena started to expand its operations by acquiring other companies starting from 1997. The major acquisitions by Ciena included AstraCom Inc. (1997), ATI Telecom International Ltd. (1998), Terabit Technology Inc. (1998), Omnia Communications Inc. (1999), Cyras Corp.(2000), ONI Systems (2002), WaveSmith Networks Inc. (2003), Akara Corp. (2003), Catena Networks (2004) and Internet Photonics (2004), World Wide Packets Inc. (2008), Nortel’s optical technology and Carrier Ethernet division (2009), Cyan (2015), TeraXion Inc.(2016), Packet Design (2016), and DonRiver (2018), etc.

The CEO: Gary B. Smith

Gary B. Smith is the CEO of Ciena Corporation. He belongs to the British ethnicity and has been working in the American telecom industry for many years. He was born and brought up in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and holds an MBA degree from Ashridge Management College.

Smith has been working at executive positions in many companies. He was the vice president of the sales and marketing department at Cray Communications, Inc. and Intelsat for a few years. Smith then joined Ciena in 1997 as the vice president of worldwide sales and was promoted to be the CEO and president of the company in 2001.

swisscom

Swisscom, One of the most efficient Telecommunications providers in Switzerland.

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Swisscom is Switzerland’s leading provider of communication, information technology, and entertainment. Swisscom employs over 19,000 people and is one of Switzerland’s most innovative and sustainable companies. Operating the simplest mobile network and largest fiber-optic network in Switzerland, Swisscom offers maximum bandwidths nationwide. The Company network is fast, sustainable, secure, and prepared for anything.

The Backstory of Swisscom

At the beginning of 1852, Switzerland started the first telecommunications service between St. Gallen and Zurich. Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876 gave the field new impetus. In 1917, Zurich-Gottingen started the operation of the first half-automatic telephone switchboard. By 1959, Switzerland’s telephone system became the world’s first completely automated network, there were 1 million subscribers. In 1962, Telstar was launched in space, the first telecommunications satellite. The first exchange to allow direct international dialing was unveiled at the Expo 1964 in Lausanne.

Swisscom
Image Source: web24.news

In 1974, in the canton of Wallis, the Earth satellite station of Leuk was operational. In 1975, PTT-Betreibe (Postal and Telecommunications Services of Switzerland) decided to introduce a mobile telephone network for vehicles (NATEL). The first NATO A network, followed by NATEL B in 1983 and NATEL C in 1987, was established three years later. Between Berne and Neuchâtel the first fiber optic cable was placed in 1985. The first Swiss digital telecommunications network Telecom PTT was introduced in 1988.

In 1992, under the name NATEL D, the mobile phone network was digitized. In 1996, the internet portal “Blue Windows” of Telecom PTT became the market leader soon. Telecom PTT was converted to Swisscom on 1 October 1997. Swisscom Ltd was bought on the stock exchange on 5 October 1998. Swisscom became a part of the television industry in 2007 and led the digital television market with 791,000 subscribers by the end of 2012. In 2009, the fiber-optic network expansion in Switzerland was pushed forward by Swisscom.

Products And Services:

For Residential Customers:-

Surf with Internet Security more safely. The company’s security and anti-viruses protect your devices against viruses, hackers, and spyware. Since 2002 Swisscom has offered free internet access to all Swiss schools. It is in the interests of more than 6000 schools. In Swiss education systems, they are much more concerned with sustainable and efficient ICT.

For Businesses:-

Double Robotics is a modern telepresence system, and an entirely different step towards interactions with staff, customers and business partners. For companies with multiple locations and/or operating internationally, Double Robotics is ideal. Double robotics is also suited for companies offering flexible working models to their employees. It allows you to move around the room in freedom, unlike classic video conferencing in which you can only see a screen. The totally mobile Double allows physical presence from around the world in the workplace.

Digital signing is legally and securely possible with electronic signatures. It is therefore a core digitization element and enables any type of contract to be concluded. No printing, no letter sending, no scanning – with an electronic signature everything is completely digital. Client Hardware Service provides you with access to advanced, efficient devices, ideal for flexibility and environmental impact reduction.

Conextrade helps you throughout the entire digital process chain whether with e-procurement or e-invoicing. Swisscom managed services link companies and suppliers with all the current technologies and support the entire procurement-to-paid and order-to-cash process from e-invoicing. CuraMED is the web-based information system for the next-generation medical practice for electronic documentation and process optimization. Configured to the highest security standards, this software-as-a-service solution features an extensive and modern medical information system that is suited to your individual needs.

Urs Schaeppi, The Genius behind Swisscom

Since 2013, Urs Schaeppi has served as Head of Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd and Chief Executive Officer of Swisscom. He graduated from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich with a degree in engineering and the University of St. Gallen with a degree in business administration. His professional career began in R&D at Iveco, followed by marketing at Ascom. In addition, he was promoted to Operations Manager at Papierfabrik Biberist.

In 1998, he joined the Mobile division as Head of Commercial Business after the formation of Swisscom. He was appointed CEO of Swisscom Solutions in 2006 and soon after became Head of the Enterprise Customers division. He sits on the boards of several economic and educational organizations.

Telefonica

Telefonica: The Leader of the Telecom Industry of Spain

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There are several names in the telecom industry that have a great history and have been contributing agents to the industry itself. An about century-old Telefonica is an example of such an organization. Telefonica has its headquarter located in Madrid Spain, and it has been in the business of fixed-line telephony, mobile telephony, broadband internet as well as digital television.

Telefonica is counted as one of the largest telecom company, and in this long period of Telefonica’s existence, it has expanded its operations overseas and has established as one of the dominant telecom company in 24 countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, France, Germany, the UK, etc. 

According to the 2017 list of Forbes, Telefónica was the 110th largest company in the world. As of 2018, the recorded annual revenue of Telefonica was €48.7 billion, and around 120,138 employees were working at the company’s various offices around the world.

The Foundational Story of Telefonica

Telefonica is a almost a century old as was founded in 1924 as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España (CTNE) in Madrid. ITT was the major shareholder in the company at that time, and by 1945, the state had taken over about 80% of the company shares. Since the state was a major stakeholder in Telefonica, till the year 1997, it had a monopoly over the telecommunication industry of Spain.

Telefonica laid down the first long-distance telephone line in Madrid in 1925, and the next year, it established an underground telephone network at Puente de Toledo, Madrid. The company stayed the only company providing telephone service in Spain till 1960. In 1967, Telefonica entered into satellite communications and commissioned the first Special Data Transmission Network in Europe in 1971.

In the next seven years, Telefonica had installed about 10 million phones and also got listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987. In 1989, Telefonica also played a crucial role in the composition of Hispasat.

Telefonica
Image Source: eleconomista.es

Only in three years of entering Chile, the company controlled around 98% of the population for its analog mobile telephone in the country in 1993. In 1994, the company launched its digital mobile service in Peru with the name Movistar. The next year, with the emergence of the internet, Telefonica also launched its internet service named Infovía, and in the same year, the company turned into a partial private company. This privatization completed in 1999 and Telefonica also launched the ADSL broadband fixed access service in the same year.

The company also sold its subsidiary companies and its stakes in other companies in the following years, including Atento (2012), 40% assets in Central America (2013), Telefónica Ireland (2014), its stake in Telecom Italia (2014), Antares (2018), etc.

In 2011 The company created the T. Digital and TGR and had its Germany IPO in 2012. In 2014, Telefonica announced to become a new fully customer-oriented organization. The company created Telxius in 2017 and Aura in 2018. Aura was Telefonica’s way to Artificial Intelligence.

Acquisitions

In 2004, Telefonica acquired BellSouth assets in Latin America, and the next year it acquired Cesky Telecom. The company also bought a 5% share in China Netcom in 2005. The company acquired the operations of O2 in the UK, Germany, and Ireland in 2006 and also acquired 51% shares in Colombia Telecom in the same year. The next year, the company partnered with Telecom Italia, followed by the acquisition of Vivo Brazil in 2008. In 2009, it also partnered with China Unicom.

In 2010, Telefonica bought the operations of a company named Hansenet in Germany, Jajah in Israel, and Tuenti in Spain, and took over the operations of Vivo in Brasilcel. In the year 2014, Telefonica acquired  E-Plus in Germany, DTS (Canal +) in Spain, and GVT in Brazil.

The CEO

José María Álvarez-Pallete López was born on 12 December 1963, in Madrid and is a famous Spanish economist. Pallete López was appointed the CEO of Telfonica on 8 April 2016.

José María Álvarez-Pallete López CEO of Telefonica
Image Source: telefonica.com

Pallete López started his career at Arthur Young Auditors in 1987. But in 1988, he switched his job and joined Benito & Monjardín/Kidder, Peabody & Co., followed by taking a position in Compañía Valenciana de Cementos Portland (CEMEX) as head of the Investor Relations and Analysis Department in 1995. He handled various positions in the company like CFO, Chief Administration, and Finance Officer of the CEMEX Group’s international offices till 1998.

In 1999, Pallete López got an offer from Telefonica as the Managing Director of the Corporate & Finance in Telefónica S.A. After being posted to many positions like Executive Chairman of Telefonica International S.A., Managing Director of Latin America Telefonica, and President of Latin America Telefonica, he was appointed the CEO on 8 April 2016.

Reliance Plans to Launch Jio GigaFiber Next Few Weeks

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Reliance Jio, the biggest telecom company in India, had released the beta of its Jio GigaFiber last year, and since then, there have been many talks about the same. The Jio GigaFiber claims it will replace the old fashioned cables with all fibre cables, enhancing the speed for the broadband and TV connections. Reportedly, the company is planning to end the beta and officially launch the GigaFibre in the coming weeks.

Jio GigaFiber
Image Source: mysmartprice.com

Since the company had made the testing open for the public, too, many of the common people were able to enjoy the unlimited internet after paying a sum of Rs. 4500. This way, there have been numerous leaks on the details about the upcoming Jio GigaFiber.

The new Jio GigaFiber is faster and offers three different services altogether, i.e., landline, broadband, and a TV connection. With the new network connection, Reliance intends to provide its users with a connected ecosystem for their homes through a single package, and that too, at a cheaper price.

Though there are various network providers that use optical fibre for the connection, they mix these connections with the conventional cables. With Jio GigaFiber, the whole network will rely on fibre optics, leading to up to 100Mbps network speed with no or negligible loss in the connection. The people who were using the beta of the service have confirmed a similar speed on the network. The TV connection and the landline will also rely on the internet, such that JIO TV will stream the TV channels in HD, and people will be able to make free calls through the landline. Even if we believe the rumours, the Jio TV will stream 600 TV channels for Rs. 600.

Also, unlike the other network providers, GigaFiber includes the dual-band Wi-Fi routers. Currently, the company is offering the GigaFiber beta connection for a security deposit of Rs 4500. The other plan includes a single-band router rendering speed of 50Mbps, which will cost the users a sum of Rs 2500.

GigaFiber can be a big game changer for Reliance as it may empower other home devices as well, and this way, people will not have the need for different service providers for separate home internet services.

Kenny A. Troutt : A Billionaire Who Once was Dirt Poor

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A major Republican donor and the owner of the elite thoroughbred horse farm in Versailles, Kenny Trout is one of the richest persons in the world. The life of the American billionaire was never this easy. As a kid, he went through the financial struggle and worked hard to get at the position where he stands right now. In school, when his teacher questioned him that what he wanted to become in future, he did not know what career he would choose, but he surely knew that he wanted to become rich.

Early Life

Troutt was born in 1948 in Mount Vernon, Illinois, United States. His father worked as a bartender. He was the eldest of his three siblings. Troutt did his schooling from the Mt. Vernon Township High School, and later, graduated from the Southern Illinois University, in 1971. Belonging to a poor family, he always intended to overcome his family’s financial conditions and become rich. Due to the shortage of money, he started working at a very young age, to support his family and earn extra bucks. He even sold insurance to subsidise his studies while he was in college.

Kenny Troutt
Image source: dmagazine.com

Career

After completing his graduation, with continues hard work, he co-founded Excel, a long distance phone service, along with his business partner Steve Smith, in 1988. Smith’s interest in the network marketing business, helped the two to start the company, as he had found much more scope in the same. Just in nine years, the company had earned revenue in billion dollars. Excel became the fastest growing company in the U.S., even faster than Microsoft. In 1996, it went public in the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ECI, becoming the youngest company ever to join the NYSE.

In the month of June, the very next year, Excel acquired the Telco Communications Group, followed by a merger with Teleglobe, in November 1998. The merger between the two companies brought lots of fortune to the two co-founders of Excel. Troutt and Smith became billionaires overnight.

Troutt retired as CEO on September 20, 1999, and was replaced by Christina Gold. Currently, Troutt serves as the chairman of Mt. Vernon Investments.

Personal Life

Troutt is married to Lisa E. Copeland and has three children with her. The family lives in their 13000 square foot grand estate in Dallas Texas. At present, he owns a 2,400-acre thoroughbred horse breeding and racing farm in Versailles, Kentucky, named WinStar Farm. In 2014, his net worth was estimated to be approx. US$1.5 billion.

The Journey of the World’s Largest Telecom Company

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at&t
Image Source: cbsistatic.com

Telecommunication industry is considered the most progressive industry in the world. In the past more than a hundred years, from its origin to until now, it has seen a radical change. The time changed, but the company that belonged to the inventor of the telephone, Graham Bell, is still standing strong as the leading multinational conglomerate holding company. AT&T known as the largest telecommunication company has its own part in the history of the development of the telecom industry.

Birth of AT&T

After the discovery of the telephone, Graham Bell founded a company named the Bell Telephone Company, in 1880. By 1885, the company evolved as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the AT&T Co. AT&T, later, acquired the Bell Telephone Company, in December 1899. It started getting a hold on the customers in Canada and the United States, resulting in AT&T’s monopoly in the telecommunication industry. This growing monopoly of AT&T provoked the US government to drag the company to the court for an antitrust challenge. Later, it was settled outside the court on the basis of the Kingsbury Commitment, resulting in the government-authorised monopoly with the name of Bells System. The merger continued for the entire 20th century. Also, the company became the largest telephone company in the world.

After continuing for over 80 years, in 1981, the government-authorised monopoly was dissolved by the US regulations and resulted in the origin of smaller companies, including the Southwestern Bell. All the smaller companies started due to the break-up of the monopoly were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies or Baby Bells. The breaking-up of the monopoly also resulted in a rise in competition for AT&T as other independent telecommunication companies, like MCI and Sprint also came into the business.

The new Southwestern Bell company was founded by Robert G. Pope, who led the company with some really successful acquisitions. The company not only worked in the telecommunication but also acquired some of the cable companies and entered into the business of cable connections. In 1990, the company was rebranded as SBC Communications. The success of the company led it to the list of top 500 Fortune companies, in 1999.

In 2005, the SBC Communications was rebranded again, as AT&T Co., after it acquired its previous parent company, AT&T, for $16 billion. It also retained the iconic logo and stock-trading symbol of older AT&T.

Current Status & Achievements

The AT&T’s acquisition was followed by the other important ones as well, including the Mexican carrier Iusacell (2014), NII Holdings (2014), DirecTV (2015), Time Warner (2016), etc. The DirecTV deal was worth $48.5 billion and AT&T spent $108.7 billion for the acquisition of Time Warner. By 2017, AT&T became the world’s largest telecommunications company and second largest provider of the mobile telephone. AT&T is also the largest provider of fixed telephone services in the United States.