Ciena Network Insights

Ciena's Chief Technology Officer, Steve Alexander, shares his thoughts on some of the key technologies on the horizon like 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Data Center Interconnect and Blockchain. We also take a brief look back at some of our predictions from 2018 and years prior.

Mark Stevens, Ciena's Director of CSR provides an overview of the Ciena CARES community outreach program. Also, Sondra Smith, Director of CSR for CenturyLink, joins as a special guest to share recent benevolent activities lead by the organization.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and the elements that make up the cloud are converging to enable the next level of smart technology, which will allow networks to run with minimal to no human intervention. With AI, future networks will be more predictive and intelligent, programmed to automatically make recommendations, implement policies and respond to changes instantly. Tune into this podcast to hear from Ciena's Kailem Anderson as he discusses how AI makes it possible for an autonomous network to configure, monitor and maintain itself independently.

In a world where user demands are skyrocketing, the volume of devices and data is exploding, and legacy systems are incapable of keeping up, how must networks evolve? Special guests Telstra and Ericsson join the podcast to share their views and discuss the evolution of today's networks and what it means to end users. They also touch upon hot trends and recent work in the area of 5G, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and 400G.

Ciena is at the forefront of Asia's digital transformation. On this episode, Rick Seeto, VP and GM of Asia-Pacific & Japan, discusses Ciena's recent expansion and success across the Asia-Pacific region. We take a closer look at some of the key drivers, including 5G, over-the-top video and the Internet of Things, as well as opportunities in emerging markets like, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Flash back 20 years - email was just being introduced to the work place, teleworking was sparse, and video conferencing was unheard of. That's all changed considerably – and it's imperative that IT personnel embrace policies that are consistent with the modern work climate, while looking to the future so their companies are not left in the dust. Ciena's CIO Craig Williams walks us through his IT methodology, including his “PHD” hiring approach, and why you should run IT like a bagel shop.

India is one of the standout markets for network infrastructure growth. According to the GSMA's 2018 Mobile Economy report, India will contribute over 300 million of the 1.75 billion increase in mobile internet users in the period from 2017 to 2025. In addition to significant mobile subscribership growth, major Indian government initiatives such as Digital India, a countrywide initiative to bring citizens online, are helping to improve connectivity for government entities, schools, hospitals, and rural villages.Join Ciena's Ryan Perera and Dimple Amin as they discuss the company's expansion in the region as well as share insights on the where the country's telecom industry is headed.

To dive deeper into what motivates service providers to adapt their networks to be more intelligent, flexible and automated, Ciena and ACG Research surveyed 200 of the industry's top service providers across the globe. Tune in to this podcast as Ciena's Chip Redden, Rebecca Prudhomme, and ACG Research's Tim Doiron discuss some of the key findings including which Marvel superhero operators would most want their future automated network to resemble. Here's a hint…it's, not Iron Man.

Glenn Wellbrock, Verizon's director of optical transport planning, and Ciena's Kevin Sheehan discuss the goals and challenges of Verizon's effort to consolidate and operate a single seamless network infrastructure with their One Network initiative. This daunting task, of course, does not come without its challenges. Glenn and Kevin talk through the challenges and road that led them to make this far-out concept a reality. Wireless networks are exploding – the future of 5G is bursting at the seams, and Verizon is providing the fuel to drive the machine.

We've reached a pinnacle moment—applications like the Internet of Things, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence have transitioned from a dream to a reality. This requires networks to run more efficiently and be more responsive than ever before. It's not just about becoming autonomous—the network needs to adapt.Rebecca Prudhomme, Ciena's VP of Portfolio Marketing, walks us through the Adaptive Network vision—Ciena's bold response to users' voracious appetites for bandwidth—and discusses the opportunity it presents for network providers.Also in this episode, Ciena's Brian Lavallée discusses the transition to 4G and 5G, which is once again expected to dominate the conversation at Mobile World Congress.