Steve Alexander's 30-Year Journey at Ciena

After three decades of shaping optical networking technology, Steve Alexander is stepping down as Ciena's Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

His journey, from working on early optical networking systems to helping to implement AI as part of Ciena’s products, mirrors the evolution of telecommunications itself.

The farewell

"As soon as you say, 'Hey guys, you know, there's an end date', certain things start moving," says Alexander reflecting on his current transition period. "Some people want to say goodbye, others want more of your time."

After 30 years of work, the bulk of it as CTO, Alexander is ready to reclaim his time, starting with the symbolic act of shutting down Microsoft Outlook.

"I don't want to get up at six o'clock and look at my email and calendar to figure out my day,” he says.

His retirement plans blend the practical and the fun. The agenda includes long-delayed home projects and traveling with his wife. "My kids gave us dancing lessons for a Christmas present, that sort of thing," he says with a smile.

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Books of 2024: Part 2

Gazettabyte asks industry figures to pick their reads of the year. In Part 2, Scott Wilkinson, Nigel Toon and Kailem Anderson select their best reads.

Source: Shutterstock

Scott Wilkinson, Lead Analyst, Networking Components, Cignal AI

I spent the year enjoying a poem a day from Brian Bilston’s Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems.

You may have seen his poems on social media, as he’s sometimes called The Poet Laureate of Twitter. It’s been a joy to end the day with one of his hilarious, occasionally poignant, and always topical poems.

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Ciena sends a 1.6T optical lambda over a 470km link

• Ciena details its first live trial result using its latest WaveLogic 6 Extreme coherent modem.
• The modem will be generally available at the end of the month.  

Ciena has detailed its newest coherent modem's first optical networking performance: sending 1.6 terabits of data over a 470km fibre link.   

Helen Xenos

The field trial used Ciena's WaveLogic 6 Extreme coherent modem in telecom operator Arelion's live network.

The link connects an Equinix data centre in Ashburn to a Telxius submarine cable landing station also in Virginia. 

"The fact that we are achieving 1.6-terabit wavelengths across close to 500 kilometres is a testament to the performance and integrity of the design," says Helen Xenos, senior director of portfolio marketing at Ciena.

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Will AI spur revenue growth for the telcos?

• A global AI survey sponsored by Ciena highlights industry optimism 
• The telcos have unique networking assets that can serve users of AI.
• Much is still to play out and telcos have a history of missed opportunities.

The leading communications service providers have been on a decade-long journey to transform their networks and grow their revenues.

Jürgen Hatheier.

To the list of technologies the operators have been embracing can now be added artificial intelligence (AI). 

AI is a powerful tool for improving their business efficiency. The technology is also a revenue opportunity and service providers are studying how AI traffic will impact their networks. 

"This is the single biggest question that everyone in this industry is struggling with," says Jürgen Hatheier. "How can the service providers exploit the technology to grow revenues?"

However, some question whether AI will be an telecom opportunity.

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Nokia picks Infinera to boost its optical networking arm

Nokia has announced its intention to buy optical networking specialist Infinera for $2.3 billion. 

The motivation for the Infinera acquisition is scale, said Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark, during an analyst call detailing the announcement. 

Jimmy Yu, Dell'Oro Group

Optical networking is how communications service providers and hyperscalers cope with the exponential traffic growth. 

Continual innovation is required to reduce the cost and power consumed to transport such traffic. For a systems vendor, having scale helps meet these aims.

Optical networking wasn't always central to Nokia's strategy. In 2013, Nokia sold its optical networking arm to Marlin Equity Partners, which became Coriant.

Now, Nokia wants to be a leading optical networking vendor by acquiring Infinera, a company that bought Coriant in 2018.   

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OFC 2024 industry reflections: Part 2

Gazettabyte is asking industry figures for their thoughts after attending the recent OFC show in San Diego. Here are the thoughts from Ciena, Celestial AI and Heavy Reading.

Dino DiPerna, Senior Vice President, Global Research and Development at Ciena.

Power efficiency was a key theme at OFC this year. Although it has been a prevalent topic for some time, it stood out more than usual at OFC 2024 as the industry strives to make further improvements.

There was a vast array of presentations focused on power efficiency gains and technological advancements, with sessions highlighting picojoule-per-bit (pJ/b) requirements, high-speed interconnect evolution including co-packaged optics (CPO), linear pluggable optics (LPO), and linear retimer optics (LRO), as well as new materials like thin-film lithium niobate, coherent transceiver evolution, and liquid cooling.

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ECOC 2023 industry reflections - Final Part

Gazettabyte has been asking industry figures to reflect on the recent ECOC show in Glasgow. The final instalment emphasises coherent technology with contributions from Adtran, Cignal AI, Infinera, Ciena, and Acacia.

The popular Market Focus sessions at ECOC

Jörg-Peter Elbers, head of advanced technology at Adtran

The ECOC 2023 conference and show was a great event. The exhibition floor was busy and offered ample networking opportunities. In turn, the conference and the Market Focus sessions provided information on the latest technologies, products, and developments.

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