Ciena Corp

ciena.com

What Do They Do?

Sells optical networking equipment, routing and switching platforms, and network software and services to cloud providers, service providers, and other network operators.

How Do They Make Money?

Network operators pay for products when they ship or are delivered; customers pay over time for software subscriptions, maintenance, installation, and professional services.

revenue

Segment	Share	How money arrives
Optical Networking Sold outright	68% FY2022: 66%	Sold outright
Routing and Switching Sold outright	9.0% FY2022: 11%	Sold outright
Platform Software and Services Recurring	7.6% FY2022: 7.6%	Recurring
Blue Planet Automation Software and Services	2.4% FY2022: 2.1%
Maintenance, Support, and Learning Recurring	6.7%	Recurring
Implementation Recurring	5.2%	Recurring
Advisory and Enablement Recurring	1.1%	Recurring

Who Are Their Customers?

Sells to cloud providers and communications carriers as well as other network operators, governments, research and education networks, and enterprises, through direct and indirect sales channels. Distributors, resellers, and systems integrators are among its sales partners.

Do Revenues Turn Into Profits?

Yes. It kept 3 cents of every revenue dollar as net income in FY2025 and turned 14 cents into free cash flow.

Operating income, FY2025

4% of revenue

▲ +19% vs FY2024 ($166.6M, 4%)

Net income, FY2025

3% of revenue

▲ +47% vs FY2024 ($84M, 2%)

Free cash flow, FY2025

14% of revenue

▲ +76% vs FY2024 ($377.9M, 9%)

How Are They Changing?

Since the FY2025 annual report

Latest quarter: Q3 FY2026, the three months to Aug 1, 2026

Revenue: ▲ +37%; vs $1.2B in Q3 FY2025
Net income: ▲ +430%; vs $50.3M in Q3 FY2025

Optical Networking share of revenue vs 66.9% in Q3 FY2025

Sep 3, 2026 Raised fiscal 2026 revenue guidance Fiscal 2026 revenue guidance rose to $6.42 billion plus or minus $50 million; the fiscal fourth-quarter revenue outlook is $1.75 billion plus or minus $50 million.

Growing. Revenue grew 32% in 4 years, from $3.6B in FY2021 to $4.8B in FY2025, about 7% a year.

Interconnect products The older report describes optical platforms for data-center interconnect; the latest adds compact optical and electrical interconnect products aimed at artificial intelligence workloads through Nubis.

Data-center use for broadband technology The older report describes passive optical networks for broadband access; the latest says Ciena has expanded their use into data-center applications, including a separate network for remotely managing and troubleshooting data-center equipment.

Revenue over time

Optical Networking Routing and Switching Platform Software and Services Blue Planet Automation Software and Services Maintenance, Support, and Learning Implementation Advisory and Enablement Installation and Deployment Maintenance Support and Training Consulting and Network Design

$5B$2.5B$0

FY2021 FY2022 FY2023 FY2024 FY2025

Who Do They Compete With?

Competes with Nokia, Huawei, Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, ZTE, Marvell Technology Group, Credo Technology Group, Broadcom, Amdocs, ServiceNow, Netcracker, and Ericsson

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