Bo Gowan
Head of Digital Engagement
Connect
Bo Gowan leads the B2B social media team at Ciena. He is the editor-in-chief and regular contributor for the Ciena Insights blog, and manages Ciena’s social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Bo also leads Ciena’s company-wide social media / social selling training efforts, and works closely with our partners and customers on social-based co-marketing activities.
Bo has built two corporate B2B social media programs from scratch, beginning in 2007 at Nortel and then again in 2010 at Ciena. He brings over 25 years of experience in the telecom industry.
Insights from Bo Gowan
Blog
Year in review: Ciena’s 5 biggest announcements of 2021
From an uptick in 400G services to new acquisitions and partnerships, Ciena’s Bo Gowan highlights the biggest Ciena news and announcements from 2021.
Blog
Year in review: Ciena’s 7 biggest announcements of 2020
As we close out an unprecedented year, let’s look back at some of the biggest Ciena news and announcements from 2020.
Blog
Predictions: Ciena CTO Steve Alexander looks at the future of networks in 2020 and beyond
Ciena’s CTO Steve Alexander discusses key trends that will shape the industry in 2020 and beyond including, 5G, edge computing, and AI.
Blog
Year in review: Ciena’s 6 biggest announcements of 2019
As we close out another year (and the decade), let’s look back at some of the biggest Ciena news and announcements from 2019.
Blog
Closing the Loop: Ciena closes acquisition of Centina
Ciena has officially closed the acquisition of Centina Systems, which will be integrated into our Blue Planet division. Kailem Anderson, VP of Portfolio and Engineering for Blue Planet, details the crucial set of capabilities Centina brings that
Blog
25+ telecom industry influencers you should be following on Twitter
Looking to stay on top of the latest telecom industry news and insights? Here's a list of the top media and analysts you should be following on Twitter.
Blue Planet Blog
Moving beyond orchestration to full transformation
Adan K. Pope, Chief Information Technology Officer and CSO, Ciena Blue Planet, shares his views on how combining orchestration and federation accelerates digital transformation.
Blog
Predictions: Ciena CTO Steve Alexander on the key network technologies of 2019
Steve Alexander, Ciena SVP and CTO, talks through his predictions for the future of technologies like 5G, AI, software automation, and blockchain.
Blog
Year in review: Ciena’s 8 biggest announcements of 2018
As we close out another year, we look back at Ciena's biggest news and announcements of 2018.
Blog
Ciena’s 2018 Holiday Bundle is Here!
Spend your downtime this holiday season applying the collective knowledge of some of the world’s best and brightest minds in telecom. With this incredible limited time offer from Ciena you’ll get four amazing resources and a bonus gift you
Blog
Preview our Top 5 online courses to celebrate National Online Learning Day
September 15 is National Online Learning Day, and Ciena is joining with others to celebrate the opportunities and advances that online learning provides.
Blog
10 new terms that will help define the future of 5G
5G is coming, and with it a host of new terms and acronyms. We try to make sense of it all with definitions for the ones that matter most for the future of 5G network architectures.
Blog
Coherent optical turns 10: Here’s how it was made
This is the story of how a team of over 100 people in Ciena's R&D labs pulled together an impressive collection of technology innovations that created a completely new way of transporting data over fiber...and in the processes helped change the
Blog
IHS Markit releases latest service provider optical survey, Ciena scores big
In IHS Markit’s new service provider survey, Ciena came out as a leader across multiple categories, including Top Optical Transmission and Switching Equipment Vendor. Here’s a snapshot of the survey results, and a free download of the report
Blog
Year in Review: Ciena’s Top 8 Announcements of 2017
As we close out another year, we look back at Ciena's biggest news and announcements of 2017.
Blog
Ciena’s Ultimate eBook Holiday Bundle is Back: 2017 Edition
Looking for some casual light reading this holiday season as you kick back in your favorite chair drinking eggnog? Well, look somewhere else…Ciena’s ultimate eBook holiday bundle is back and it’s not for the faint of heart.
Blog
25 Big Milestones from our 25 Years at Ciena
As we come to the end of Ciena’s 25th anniversary year we’re hitting the “pause” button to reflect on some of the most important milestones in our history.
Blog
In Their Words: Gary Smith, Steve Alexander & Steve Chaddick on Ciena’s Early Years
Gary Smith, Steve Alexander, and Steve Chaddick, three of Ciena’s most recognized names for a rare glimpse into Ciena’s early days and the stories that made the company what it is today.
Blog
A Peek Inside Ciena’s New Ottawa Campus and R&D Lab
The Ciena team turned out for a day of celebration as we officially moved into our new 425,000 square foot Ottawa campus.
Blog
#Ciena25: The Story Behind the Founding of Ciena
2017 marks Ciena's 25-year anniversary. Here's the story of how it all started back in 1992, with four founding members and a new idea for how to send more data over fiber.
Blog
#Ciena25: 25 pictures from 25 years at Ciena
2017 marks the 25-year anniversary of Ciena's founding in 1992. To celebrate, we look back at the people, pictures and technologies that have made us who we are today.
Blog
Ciena Podcast: The Road to 5G is Paved with Good Fiber
In our new Network Insights Podcast, 5G expert Brian Lavallée discusses the coming of 5G and what it means for the future of networks.
Blog
5 awesome new technologies you’ll see on the Ciena booth at #OFC17
Next week is the OFC’17 Conference in Los Angeles, and Ciena is bringing our Ciena Innovation Lab filled with all the newest technology our R&D team has been busy developing.
Blog
A Perfect Score for WaveLogic Ai from Lightwave Innovation Reviews
An independent panel of third-party judges has recognized Ciena's new WaveLogic Ai chipset with a perfect score of 5/5 stars in this year's Lightwave Innovation Reviews.
Blog
Service providers single out Ciena as leading optical vendor in perception survey
IHS Markit released the results from its annual Service Provider survey of Optical Equipment vendors, with Ciena taking the top spot in a variety of categories.
Blog
Ciena's 9 predictions for networks and tech in 2017
Some of Ciena's most distinguished experts and execs give their predictions for the upcoming year.
Blog
Year in Review: Ciena’s Top 6 Announcements of 2016
As 2016 comes to a close, we take a look back at the biggest news from a big year here at Ciena.
Blog
Year in Review: Our 9 Best Pictures from 2016
One of the best parts of our social media program is all the great pictures we get from the Ciena team around the world. Here are nine of the best from 2016.
Blog
Our Gift to You: Ciena's Ultimate eBook Holiday Bundle is Here
Just in time for the holidays, we've made our three most popular technology eBooks available for download, and added two new reference guides, all in one bundle.
Blog
7 Facts You Should Know About Carrier Ethernet
Ethernet has become a ubiquitous networking technology -- if you connect anything that uses data, you’re probably using Ethernet. But how much do you really know about it? We give you seven facts you may not have known about Ethernet and its
Blog
Ciena CEO Gary Smith: Creating a Platform for Disruption
Ciena CEO Gary Smith delves into the constant state of change that people and businesses must face, and how the confluence of the internet, mobile connectivity, and virtualization is creating a “utility platform” that is capable of facilitating
Blog
Openness: Ciena’s guiding principle for customer choice
Ciena CEO Gary Smith details how the guiding principle of openness drives Ciena's innovation agenda and how we solve the challenges of network transformation for our customers.
Blog
Relive Summer with Carrier Ethernet Summer Camp
The kids are back in school. The mornings have the crisp feel of Fall. It's true, summer is over. But that doesn't mean you can't relive summer camp.
Blog
Q&A session: Blue Orbit and Service Provider DevOps, what does it mean for you?
Ciena's new Blue Planet DevOps Toolkit is creating a buzz with our customers and partners. Two of our experts explain what it is and what it means for our Blue Orbit ecosystem.
Blog
Karl Horne Q&A: MDSO is the Key to Rolling with the Changes of SDN/NFV
Karl Horne—Ciena’s CTO for the Asia Pacific region —explains how multi-domain service orchestration (MDSO) is crucial to helping networks...
Blog
Blue Planet Q&A: Services, SDN, and NFV
Ciena's Joe Cumello and Pamela Morgan talk to Telecom Ramblings about their experiences rolling out our Blue Planet portfolio with customers and the professional services that can help them succeed.
Blog
12 Questions Answered about Submarine Data Center Interconnect
As the recent news that Microsoft and Facebook plan to build a subsea cable across Atlantic demonstrates, the need to optimize intercontinental data center connections is more important than ever.
Blog
Overcoming the Top 5 Challenges of Data Center Interconnect
Learn about five of the biggest DCI challenges and how to reduce or eliminate each.
Blog
SubOptic 2016: Ciena's Ian Clarke dives into the submarine networks market
April 18-21 in Dubai is SubOptic 2016, one of the most anticipated events on the calendar for the submarine networks industry. In anticipation of this big event, we talked to Ian Clarke. Ian manages Global Submarine Sales at Ciena, and took time to
Blog
The History of Carrier Ethernet
Ethernet has been around for decades and has claimed the title of the superior Local Area Networking (LAN) technology of choice.
Blog
Ciena Waveserver and 5430 get high marks with Lightwave Innovation Awards
Ciena brought home high marks from the Lightwave Innovation Awards. Both the Waveserver Data Center Interconnect and 5430 Packet-Optical Platforms picked ups 4.5 ratings in the Optical Transport Platforms category at this year’s awards. Click
Blog
Ciena unveils new 6500 T-Series platform with 24 Terabit capacity
Ciena today unveiled Ciena 6500 T-Series, a new higher density version of our cornerstone 6500 Packet Optical Platform, providing up to a Terabit of switching capacity per slot and up to 24 Terabits in a single chassis.
Blog
What is Network Function Virtualization (NFV)?
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) offloads network functions into software that runs on industry-standard hardware and can be managed from anywhere.
Blog
Survey: Network operators still see silos with SDN/NFV
Perceived vendor silos are still an issue for network operators looking to move to SDN/NFV for service virtualization. That’s just one of the revelations from a Light Reading webinar that polled hundreds of attendees on their SDN/NFV needs and
Blog
A Guide to Raising your Carrier Ethernet IQ
Long-time Carrier Ethernet expert and MEF guy John Hawkins gets you up-to-speed on the latest Carrier Ethernet tech with a free 64 page
Blog
WaveLogic Encryption brings effortless in-flight data encryption to the masses
Ciena's new WaveLogic Encryption solution brings simple, in-flight data encryption to 100G and 200G speeds.
Blog
Year in Review: Ciena's 5 Biggest Announcements of 2015
Bo Gowan, Ciena's social media leader, details the top news and announcements from a busy year in 2015 at Ciena.
Blog
New IHS Infonetics service provider survey puts Ciena atop several key categories
IHS Infonetics has released the results from its annual Service Provider survey of Optical Equipment vendors. Here's how Ciena fared in the survey results.
Blog
Ciena voted Data Center Innovation of the Year for Waveserver
Ciena voted Data Center Innovation of the year for waveserver
Blog
Behind the scenes with Ciena’s new Blue Planet architecture
Hear the technology experts that have been working directly on our new Blue Planet architecture over the last year.
Blog
CenturyLink announces network virtualization plans, leverages Ciena Blue Planet Orchestrator
Ciena's Blue Planet NFV Orchestrator is a key part of CenturyLink’s plan to virtualize 40% of its global IP core network locations by end of 2015.
Blog
Detailing Ciena’s massive new 15 Terabit OTN switch
This morning Ciena has unveiled a major update to our 5430 Packet-Optical Platform, giving it a massive upgrade to 15 Terabits of total switching capacity
Blog
Q&A with Ciena CEO Gary Smith on Cyan Acquisition
Ciena today completed its acquisition of Cyan, a leading provider of next-gen software and platforms to enable SDN networks.
Blog
Infonetics: Ciena hitting on all cylinders, leads the pack in market momentum
Infonetics has just released its 2015 Optical Network Hardware Scorecard. In it, Ciena is described as hitting on all cylinders and given high marks for both market presence and momentum.
Blog
Will Netflix Eat Europe’s Bandwidth Alive?
Netflix’s recent rollout in six European countries is now expanding further, with the announcement of Italy, Portugal and Spain as next on the list.
Blog
Ciena unveils a carrier-grade CPE for NFV
Since Ciena announced our NFV solution, Agility Matrix, in December, we have been quite busy working a variety of enhancements to the ecosystem.
Blog
Ciena 6500 first optical platform to achieve FIPS 140-2 Level 3 encryption certification
Encrypting in-flight data is now easier than ever thanks to Ciena's Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 Level 3 certified wire-speed optical encryption solution
Blog
9 Bandwidth Facts from Mary Meeker's 2015 Internet Trends Report
Nine facts and charts we've pulled from from Mary Meeker's 2015 report that focus specifically on bandwidth and Internet consumption.
Blog
Ciena’s new Waveserver: a dream machine for data center interconnect
Ciena introduces the Waveserver™, a compact and purpose-built platform capable of enabling massive multi-terabit bandwidth for metro data center interconnect (DCI).
Blog
Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 and Ericsson help Telstra achieve GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for optical transmission
Ericsson today released the latest progress and accomplishments with its trans-Australian network deployment with Telstra – including a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the longest un-regenerated terrestrial fibre optic link –
Blog
Ovum ranks Ciena #1 worldwide in booming market for data center interconnect
Global analyst firm Ovum unveiled new numbers on the rapidly growing market for data center interconnect with Ciena sitting atop the list serving the market.
Blog
The 8700 Strikes Again: Two New Innovation Awards for Ciena’s 8700 Platform
Ciena’s new 8700 Packetwave Platform strikes again, back in the news after receiving two new industry innovation awards.
Blog
The Metro gets a brand new 100G architecture option
Traditionally, operators have had to choose between two types of photonic architectures when deploying an optical network: a passive, fixed-filter solution or one that deploys ROADMs. Each has its advantages and drawbacks. The rise of intelligent
Blog
Ciena’s new coherent chipsets raise the optical bar again
Ciena has unveiled two new coherent chipsets that represent the latest innovations with our WaveLogic 3 technology.
Blog
Ciena goes web-scale with new coherent, metro and small cell backhaul solutions
This is the first in a series of blog posts detailing Ciena’s new products and solutions tailored for a new web-scale world.
Blog
PTC'15: Ciena’s newest 100G tech further extends submarine capacities, distances
Ciena has unveiled new capabilities for its GeoMesh submarine networks solution that further extends the capacity and distance capabilities of submarine networks.
Blog
Ciena’s Optical Encryption technology goes global
Ciena's latest optical encryption capabilities were on display this week at the GLIF 2014 Conference in New Zealand, where an encrypted 4K video stream was transported 30,000km to the U.S. and back. The demo is a coming out party of sorts for the
Blog
Ciena targets metro Ethernet market with new 8700 Packetwave platform
Ciena has taken direct aim at the metro Ethernet market with today’s unveiling of the 8700 Packetwave Platform
Blog
Ciena at the NYSE: The day in pictures
Ciena ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and host a group of financial analysts and investors for our 2014 Investor Day.
Blog
OTN Speedwagon: America’s best corporate band
Ciena is the proud home of America’s best corporate band: OTN Speedwagon. That distinction was won at the 2013 FORTUNE Battle of the Corporate Bands...
Blog
Ciena’s new ‘Smart Raman’ provides Raman gain without the pain
Ciena has recently introduced an innovative new Raman solution that eliminates the pain points of previous Raman products and even adds new capabilities.
Blog
Behind the scenes with Ciena’s corporate rock band
Ciena's OTN Speedwagon to play in finals of FORTUNE Battle of the Corporate Bands.
Blog
SONET/SDH is dead – really this time
The age of SONET and SDH networks is nearing an end, for real this time. In the latest reports from Infonetics and Dell’Oro, both analyst firms noted a dramatic 30% drop in carrier spending for SONET/SDH networks
Blog
Ciena 6500: Extreme Packet Makeover Edition
It’s time to rethink everything you know about Ciena’s 6500 Packet Optical Platform. You’ve known the 6500 as our flagship platform for next-gen optical transport, and for good reason.
Blog
A tutorial on Modern Carrier Ethernet
It's not very often that we get deep into the details of technology on this blog -- we save that for our white papers and one-on-one visits to our customer labs.
Blog
What the MEF’s CE2.0 initiative means for the industry
MEF’s launch of CE 2.0 certification is a very rigorous process. Discover what this overwhelming adoption means for the industry and for Carrier Ethernet technology.
Blog
What is an Optical Control Plane?
To help clarify the question of “what is an optical control plane?”, we put together the below infographic that walks through the details.
Blog
Ciena unveils WaveLogic 3 with 400G: What you need to know
Ciena unveiled WaveLogic 3, the latest generation of coherent optical processors that form the foundation of our next-gen optical transport solutions. It can scale to 400G.
Blog
Introducing the 2-slot Ciena 6500 Packet-Optical Platform
Last month, Ciena made a big announcement dubbed “Intelligent Infrastructure” that detailed the strategic evolution of our packet-optical portfolio.
Blog
Comcast's new Metro Ethernet service using Ciena gear
Comcast is using Ciena Carrier Ethernet gear to provide Metro Ethernet services to customers in more than 20 major markets across the U.S.
Blog
How much bandwidth does Broadcast HD video use?
One of the most often cited reasons for the global explosion in bandwidth demand is the significant rise in video traffic, and specifically HD video traffic.