Proposed deal to add Cyan’s SDN, NFV experience to Ciena’s network platform
The telecom market’s march toward virtualization continues to reshape the vendor space as network technology provider Ciena announced plans to acquire Cyan, which is focused on software-defined networking platforms. The deal calls for Ciena to acquire all outstanding shares of Cyan for approximately $400 million.
Ciena noted that Cyan’s SDN, network function virtualization and metro packet-optical products will complement its own network products. Cyan’s offerings also include multivendor network and service orchestration services that Ciena said would be combined with its Agility software portfolio.
“The addition of Cyan accelerates the availability of a complete solution for our customers to deliver virtualized networks and services on-demand,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO at Ciena.
Cyan recently announced a deal with regional telecom provider CenturyLink to provide its Blue Planet NFV Orchestrator platform for the telecom operator’s Programmable Services Backbone software solution that is designed to allow enterprise customers to scale services as needed. Cyan late last year also announced a partnership with Windstream to upgrade existing metro networks to provide 100-gigabit data capacity.
Ciena has also been busy garnering carrier deals. The company announced in March a deal with Verizon Communications to deploy a 100G metro optical network in partnership with Cisco Systems.
The transaction will see Cyan shareholders compensated with the equivalent of a .224 share of Ciena stock for each share of Cyan. That compensation will be based on 89% of Ciena stock and 11% in cash. The package values Cyan’s stock at $4.75 per share. Ciena will also assume Cyan’s $50 million in outstanding principal amount of 8% notes due 2019.
The deal has already received support from Cyan stockholders controlling more than 40% of its outstanding shares, with the deal expected to close in Ciena’s fiscal fourth quarter assuming it receives approval from a large enough percentage of remaining Cyan stockholders and regulators.
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