Ciena & Arelion Reach Live 1.6 Tb/s Wave Data Transmission Milestone

Ciena Corporation CIEN and Arelion have achieved a milestone with the world's first 1.6 terabits-per-second (Tb/s) wavelength data transmission in a live network field trial. Utilizing Ciena's advanced WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e), this achievement took place over Arelion's 470km route connecting its Ashburn, Virginia (Equinix) and Telxius' Virginia Beach cable landing station. This success has significantly boosted capacity between these key Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in Arelion's North American network.

Arelion addresses connectivity issues for multinational enterprises dependent on digital infrastructure across the globe. It offers IP services for unlimited global Internet access and provides enterprise, networking, and mobile data solutions to connect critical content and applications to audiences worldwide.

This data transmission boosts the performance of Arelion's leading optical transmission services, including high-speed Managed Optical Fiber Services and Wavelengths for service providers, content providers as well as enterprises. Following its recent trial, Arelion will deploy Ciena's WL6e across its network to meet the growing bandwidth demands of 5G, AI/ML applications, cloud services, and content delivery for wholesale and enterprise customers.

The use of coherent digital signal processing innovations boosts energy performance and efficiency for WL6e. It offers Arelion a 50% reduction in space and power per bit, along with a 15% improvement in spectral efficiency compared to previous generations, added CIEN. With WL6e, Arelion can provide multiple 400 and 800 gigabits-per-second (Gb/s) services, leveraging 1.6 Tb/s line capacity to support higher traffic volumes and faster connectivity speed across its existing network.

Ciena's open, programmable 6500 Reconfigurable Line System ("RLS") was also utilized in the demonstration. RLS simplifies and automates network service provisioning and reconfiguration. Together, these innovations reinforce Arelion's commitment to open optical networking and next-generation coherent optic solutions, driving improvements in performance, energy efficiency and cost savings.

Ciena is one of the leading providers of optical and routing systems, services and automation software worldwide. It builds highly adaptive networks to meet increasing digital demands and deliver richer, more connected user experiences.

Ciena's revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 decreased 19.6% year over year, totaling $910.8 million. This decline was due to a slower-than-expected recovery of order volumes from service providers who are still working through large inventory absorption.

Nonetheless, demand for bandwidth remained strong owing to higher cloud adoption and the proliferation of AI technology use cases.

CIEN'S Zacks Rank & Stock Price Performance

CIEN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have risen 13.5% in the past year compared with the sub-industry's growth of 13.2%.

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Stocks to Consider 

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Manhattan Associates, Inc. MANH, ANSYS, Inc. ANSS and Adobe Inc. ADBE.  MANH presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while ANSS and ADBE carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each.

Manhattan Associates delivered an average earnings surprise of 26.6% in the trailing four quarters. In the last reported quarter, MANH pulled off an earnings surprise of 22.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 earnings has increased 9.2% in the past 60 days to $4.26.

ANSYS delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 4.8%. In the last reported quarter, ANSS pulled off an earnings surprise of 28.9%. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 6.4%.

Adobe delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 2.7%. In the last reported quarter, ADBE pulled off an earnings surprise of 2.1%. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 13%.

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