Survey sponsored by Ciena highlights outsourcing trend; demand for variable connectivity modelUK behind Dutch and French in willingness to adopt pay-per-use WAN connectivity

Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced the results of a Vanson Bourne survey indicating a strong interest amongst European enterprises in a WAN connectivity model that adapts to peak and off-peak demands. Four out of five enterprises describe themselves as very or somewhat interested in adopting Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), reflecting the increasing bandwidth requirements that enterprises face today as well as the need for a more cost-effective connectivity model. Following on the adoption of outsourced IT services, enterprises are now willing to consider a ‘Data Center Without Walls’ model where they can pay for connectivity according to usage. 

Key Facts:

  • A recent survey of senior IT decision makers in Western Europe highlighted a significant interest in a WAN connectivity service model that adapts to off-peak and peak demands, with only around one in five (17%) ruling it out. The German market appears particularly keen; with over half (56%) stating they were very interested in this model. The high interest in Network-as-a-Service can be attributed to increasing bandwidth requirements and the need to lower associated IT costs.
  • Almost half of interviewees in the finance (48%) and manufacturing (46%) sectors describe themselves as very interested in such a model, while the public sector seems more reluctant with only 14% showing the same level of interest.
  • Dutch and French enterprises are the most receptive to a pay-per-use model for WAN connectivity (44% and 43% respectively), followed by the UK (36%) and Germany (32%). About a third of French and British enterprises are attracted to this model by lower costs (30% for both), while the Dutch favour predictability (35%).
  • The survey also demonstrated the widespread use of IT outsourcing. About two-thirds (64%) of companies have outsourced IT services, and among those more than a third (39%) intend to outsource additional services. From the interviewees who have not yet adopted outsourced IT services, about half (49%) are considering it and almost a tenth (8%) already have outsourcing plans in place. This outsourcing trend is expected to impact the market for bandwidth-on-demand as enterprises will look for a cost-effective connectivity model to support the bandwidth requirements of cloud-based IT services.
  • Although the majority of surveyed enterprises (84%) have recognised the impact of outsourcing IT services on their WAN connectivity/ bandwidth requirements, over half (53%) have not made an assessment of that impact. This is a concerning finding given that the ‘cloud’ is only as good as the network that supports it. Because the outsourcing of services to the cloud is becoming an important part of CIOs’ strategies, the associated network planning should also be a priority.

Survey: 80% of European Enterprises interested in adopting Network-as-a-Service

Executive Comment:

  • “With most enterprises outsourcing part of their IT services, the logical next step for enterprises to improve IT economics will be to move part of their infrastructure requirements to the cloud. The Data Centre Without Walls model will allow enterprises to benefit from a shared resource pool, addressing peak and off-peak demands with assured service performance. The demand for a dynamic service delivery model represents an opportunity for service providers looking to differentiate in the highly competitive enterprise connectivity market. Ciena’s OPn architecture enables the Data Centre Without Walls model with a cost-effective, scalable and assured network, enabling not only performance-on-demand, but also simpler operations”.
    -          Ian Harris, EMEA system integrators leader at Ciena

About the Survey:

  • The research project surveyed 400 senior IT decision makers, including an equal number of participants from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and The Netherlands.
  • 46% of the companies surveyed have more than 3,000 employees, 44% have between 1,000 and 3,000 employees, and 10% between 500 and 1,000.
  • The online survey was conducted by Vanson Bourne in December 2012.

Supporting Resources:

About Ciena
Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with OPn, its approach for building open next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

Note to Ciena Investors
Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 21, 2012. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.