Profile: Tellabs, Inc. (TLAB.O)

Tellabs, Inc., incorporated in 1975, is engaged in designing and marketing equipment and services to communications customers worldwide. The Company’s products and services enable its customers to deliver wireline and wireless voice, data and video services to business and residential customers. It sells its products domestically and internationally through its field sales force and distributors/partners. The Company’s customers are primarily communication services providers, including local exchange carriers (LECs); national post, telephone and telegraph (PTT) administrators, wireless service providers, multiple system operators (MSOs), and competitive service providers (CSPs). Its customer base also includes distributors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), system integrators and government agencies. The Company operates in three segments: Broadband, Transport and Services.

Broadband

In the Broadband segment, the Company markets its products in three areas: Access, Managed access and Data. Access includes products that enable service providers to deliver bundled voice, video and Internet/data services over copper or fiber networks. Specifically, access products enable service providers to deliver these services over the last mile of the communications network, the part of the network that is closest to homes and businesses. Access offerings include the Tellabs 1000 multiservice access series, the Tellabs 1100 multiservice access series and the Tellabs 1600 optical network terminal series (ONTs).

The Tellabs 1000 series is used in both copper-based and fiber-based access networks. It can be configured as a digital loop carrier (DLC), a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), a fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) optical line terminal (OLT) for broadband passive optical networks (BPON), or a voice gateway for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). The Tellabs 1100 series is used in both copper-based and fiber-based access networks. It can be configured as DLC, DSLAM, and FTTP OLT for gigabit passive optical networks (GPON), as well as for fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) or fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) network architectures. The Tellabs 1600 series of ONTs consists of remote devices installed at user locations (single family homes, multi-dwelling units, and small businesses) in both BPON and GPON FTTP network architectures.

Managed access primarily includes aggregation and transport products that deliver wireless and business services primarily outside of the United States. Voice-over-cable products, used to deliver voice and data services over cable television networks, also are included in this segment. Managed access products include the Tellabs 2300 cable telephony distribution system, the Tellabs 6300 managed transport system, the Tellabs 8000 network manager and the Tellabs 8100 managed access system. The Tellabs 2300 system enables MSOs (cable television providers) and alternate access carriers to deliver integrated video and circuit-switched voice and data services. The Tellabs 6300 system is a packet optical transport, and access platform that serves wireline and wireless operators primarily outside of North America. The Tellabs 8100 managed access system is used outside of North America in business service and wireless networks. The Tellabs 8000 network manager provides network management across the family of Tellabs 6300 and 8100 managed access products, as well as the Tellabs 8600 and 8800 products. It is upgraded to manage the Tellabs 8800 series. It offers end-to-end management for second generation (2G) and 3G mobile backhaul applications, carrier-class Internet, virtual private network (VPN) and extranet services for corporate customers, business broadband Internet access and corporate voice services.

Data includes next generation packet-switched products that enable wireline and wireless carriers to deliver business services and next-generation wireless services to their customers. Data products include the Tellabs 8600 managed edge system and the Tellabs 8800 multiservice router (MSR) series. The Tellabs 8600 system is an aggregation platform for next-generation wireless providers. It provides a way to migrate from 2G to 3G and 4G networks by using pseudowire technology to manage time division multiplexing (TDM), frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Ethernet and Internet protocol (IP) traffic in a single device. The Tellabs 8800 MSR series enables service providers to leverage existing infrastructure to integrate all their networks (ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet and IP) onto a converged MPLS network, while retaining quality of service.

Transport

The Transport segment includes solutions that enable service providers to transport services and manage bandwidth by adding capacity when and where it’s needed. Wireline and wireless providers use these to support wireless services, business services for enterprises, and triple-play voice, video and data services for consumers. Products include the Tellabs 3000 voice-quality enhancement products, the Tellabs 5000 series of digital cross-connect systems and the Tellabs 7100 optical transport system.

The Tellabs 3000 series enables service providers to improve voice quality and ensure calls are echo-free. The Tellabs 5000 series of digital cross-connects manages and routes voice, data and video traffic, and combines, consolidates and segregates signals. It also provides a centralized point for network performance monitoring and testing, as well as converting different signal formats. The Tellabs 5500 digital cross-connect is used by service providers in North America. The Tellabs 5500 NGX switch increases network efficiency by integrating cross-connect functionality with add-drop multiplexing (ADM) and data switching.

The Tellabs 7100 system enables service providers to deliver high-speed wavelength services and alleviate bandwidth bottlenecks. The Tellabs 7100 system integrates optical and electrical transport through wavelength selective switches (WSS), reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexing (ROADM reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexing), Ethernet switching, next-generation SONET/SDH multiservice provisioning platforms (MSPPs) and dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM) into a single platform.

Services

The Services segment delivers deployment, training, support and professional services to Tellabs’ customers. Through these offerings, Tellabs supports its customers through all phases of running a network: planning, building and operating. Services in the planning phase include network architecture and design, network and applications planning, network management design, migration planning and others. Building services include applications integration, program and project management, installation, testing, network integration, third-party systems integration and others. Once networks are deployed, Tellabs offers a variety of operating services, including network optimization, onsite engineering, network monitoring, remote and onsite support, capacity management, training and others.