Ciena, Cisco and Infinera Lead 2015 IHS Infonetics Optical Network Hardware Scorecard

Cambridge, MASSACHUSETTS (June 24, 2015)—IHS (NYSE: IHS) today released excerpts from its 2015 IHS Infonetics Optical Network Hardware Vendor Scorecard , which profiles and analyzes the 10 top revenue producers of optical hardware: Adva, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Cisco, Coriant, ECI, Fujitsu, Huawei, Infinera and **ZTE.

The only report of its kind, IHS Infonetics’ scorecard evaluates the leading optical hardware vendors on criteria using actual data and metrics, including market presence (market share, financials and buyer feedback on product reliability and service/support) and market momentum (market share momentum, software intensity, buyer feedback on vendors’ technology innovation). The report includes a Leadership Landscape Graph that classifies vendors as “Leader,” “Established” or “Challenger” based on their scores in these criteria. This approach eliminates subjectivity and ensures vendors are assessed accurately and fairly.

“The optical equipment market is fracturing into one of traditional service providers and another of competitive service providers and internet content providers. The leaders in our 2015 optical scorecard— Ciena, Cisco and Infinera —are focusing on one of these markets or have the necessary scale to address both with independent solutions,” said Andrew Schmitt, research director for carrier transport networking at IHS.

OPTICAL SCORECARD HIGHLIGHTS

• Ciena is hitting on all cylinders as the second-largest WDM optical equipment provider, seizing market share in 2014 while also making progress in the packet-optical transport domain
• A bulletproof balance sheet and excellent customer perceptions put Cisco in the driver’s seat; Cisco has first-mover advantage in integration of the IP and optical layers
• Infinera is the ne plus ultra of the rapidly-growing internet content provider and data center interconnect market, leading with outstanding customer perceptions, large market share gains and tight finances
• Thanks to its Shift plan, Alcatel-Lucent is poised to reverse a multi-year decline as it migrates a large installed base to coherent networking and tightens integration with its successful router products
• Huawei is without equal in terms of R&D and market scale, but its size prevents it from growing rapidly; its base of Chinese customers has so far not adopted packet-optical solutions, which lowers the company’s momentum
• In the past year, Coriant positioned itself as a vendor focused on large customers and carriers and expects to build on a successful track record of supplying packet-optical systems

UPCOMING IHS INFONETICS SCORECARDS

IHS is publishing 15 vendor scorecards in 2015 on markets ranging from telecom and enterprise networking equipment to carrier WiFi, network security, LTE infrastructure, cloud unified communications and more. To purchase reports, please visit www.infonetics.com/contact.asp, or learn more about the scorecards at

www.infonetics.com/research.asp?cvg=Equipmentvendorscorecards.