Ciena and Ericsson ink joint distribution deal

Ciena Corp and Ericsson have signed a joint development and distribution deal that will see the two telecommunications networking firms develop joint transport solutions for IP-optical convergence and a software-defined networking (SDN) collabor- ation framework. Although both foreign-owned, the agreement allows the two firms to further exploit valuable technological expertise developed in Ottawa and acquired from Nortel Networks Corp. Both Ericsson (Stockholm) and Ciena (Hanover MD), have sizable R&D operations at the former Ottawa Nortel facility. Ciena is a world leader in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation (R$, February 10/14). The much larger Ericsson is a leading player in optical transport with a strong IP portfolio and global distribution. The deal includes Ciena's 6500 packet-optical platform and 5400 family of products….