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Ciena's (CIEN) GeoMesh Extreme Solution Used by BW Digital

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Ciena (CIEN - Free Report) has announced that its GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution is being utilized by BW Digital to launch commercial 400GbE services on the Hawaiki Transpacific Cable. The milestone comes after the Hawaiki cable achieved 500 Gbps channel wavelengths.

Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme has helped BW Digital to address the growing international connectivity demands. The Hawaiki cable spans about 13,540km and connects multiple locations, including Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.

The 400GbE service was validated using EXFO's 400G Test Set, which showed smooth traffic and no latency impact across the Sydney to Hillsboro segment, added Ciena. It is supported by the Waveserver 5 compact interconnect architecture, which is driven by WaveLogic 5 Extreme programmable 800G technology, running over the 6500 Packet-Optical architecture Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE).

Ciena is a leading provider of optical networking equipment, software and services.  It continues to benefit from increased network traffic and demand for bandwidth.  The company has been diversifying its footprint in data center connectivity.

Fiber Deep technology represents a significant opportunity for the company driven by the strong adoption of its products among all major cable operators in the global market. The company expects its total addressable market to grow from $13 billion in 2020 to more than $22 billion over the next several years.

In October, the company announced that Australia-based SUBCO was deploying its GeoMesh Extreme, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme in the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, to boost the capacity of Oman Australia Cable (OAC). OAC is a 9,800km submarine cable linking Muscat, Oman and Perth, Australia.

However, rising customer inventory levels due to reduced spending by buyers amid economic troubles are likely to weigh on the company’s performance. Rising research and development costs to fend off stiff competition are headwinds. Also, reliance on third-party contract manufacturers and leveraged balance sheet are concerns.

CIEN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have lost 5.3% compared with the sub-industry’s fall of 5.2% in the past year.

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Some better-ranked stocks worth considering in the broader technology space are Blackbaud (BLKB - Free Report) , NETGEAR (NTGR - Free Report) and Watts Water Technologies (WTS - Free Report) . Blackbaud sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Watts Water Technologies and NETGEAR carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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NTGR’s earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters while missing once. The average surprise was 127.5%. Shares of NTGR have lost 27.3% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Watts Water Technologies 2023 EPS has improved 3.9% in the past 60 days to $8.08.

WTS’ earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 11.8%. Shares of WTS have soared 25.5% in the past year.

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