It was the fall of 1992, and the World Wide Web wasn’t even a thing yet.  But the company that eventually became 花魁直播was officially born when David Huber, a former General Instruments engineer, had an idea for how to help cable companies squeeze more television channels through their lines to end consumers.

Over the next year and a half, Pat Nettles, Larry Huang and Steve Chaddick joined Huber to create the founding four. Soon the company had a name, Ciena, and had zeroed in on a clear objective, enabling DWDM on the fiber networks of the U.S. long distance phone companies.

This fall marks the 25th anniversary of Ciena’s founding.  To celebrate, we’re digging into our archives to bring you a series of blog posts highlighting the stories and pictures from our rich history of people and innovation.

To start, we’ve found 25 of our best pictures from the last 25 years.  Some show the earliest days of the 花魁直播team.  Some show how far we’ve come.

We’d like your pictures too.  If you have pictures that show Ciena’s history, email them to me. We’ll be posting pictures from throughout our history to our Facebook page across the rest of the year.

花魁直播founders

This small and fuzzy picture is the earliest we've discovered of the four 花魁直播founders. From left to right: Pat Nettles, Larry Huang, Steve Chaddick and David Huber.

 

花魁直播crate

This crate holds the first 花魁直播product ever shipped. It was the MultiWave 1600 DWDM platform, shipped to Sprint in early 1996. Several of Ciena's early team members signed the crate.

 

花魁直播Firefly

No, this multi-handed creature is not a bee. It's the 花魁直播Firefly, a mascot that promoted Ciena's MultiWave Firefly product unveiled at the NFOEC Conference in 1997. MultiWave Firefly provided shorthaul DWDM at 2.5Gbps per channel for a max capacity of 60Gbps per fiber.

 

花魁直播ribbon cutting

Then CEO (and now Executive Chairman of the BOD) Patrick Nettles (left), former 花魁直播CFO Joe Chinnici (right) and others at a 1996 public ribbon cutting ceremony for Ciena's first corporate headquarters in Linthicum, Maryland.

 

All Optical Networks Consortium graphic

The vision of an All-Optical Network, circa 1994.  This diagram was created by now 花魁直播CTO Steve Alexander while he was still at MIT.

 

花魁直播lab

The backside of a rack of 花魁直播gear, and a good look at the trendsetting 花魁直播fashion from the early days at the company, courtesy of Victor Mizahi, Ciena's Chief Scientist in the late 90's.

 

Gary Smith and Steve Alexander

Pictures of CEO Gary Smith and CTO Steve Alexander in their much younger years at Ciena.

 

花魁直播booth SuperComm 1996

A pictures from the 花魁直播booth at SuperComm 1996. Clearly getting 40G to go 600km on a single fiber was a big deal.

 

Marvin and Mike 花魁直播customers

Early days in the lab with a few 花魁直播customers and Ciena' MultiWave platform.

 

Gary Smith opening bell NASDAQ 2002

花魁直播CEO Gary Smith and team ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange on January 11, 2002.

 

Francois Locoh-Donou 花魁直播booth NFOEC 1997

A young Francois Locoh-Donou, our former COO, on the 花魁直播booth at NFOEC 1997.

 

花魁直播Mascot LightWorks Lou

Not to be overshadowed by the 花魁直播Firefly, LightWorks Lou was Ciena's primary mascot over many of the early years at Ciena. Rumor has it that he still pops up from time-to-time around the 花魁直播offices.

 

Gary Smith and Philippe Morin Nortel MEN Ottawa

Gary Smith and Philippe Morin, Ciena's former Senior VP and President of the Nortel MEN business, at the 2010 event in Ottawa Celebrating Ciena's acquisition of Nortel's optical business.

 

Gary Smith in Ottawa 2010 celebrating Nortel acquisition

CEO Gary Smith welcomes the Nortel Ottawa team to 花魁直播at the 2010 event celebrating the Nortel optical acquisition.

 

花魁直播employee riding bull

Honestly we have no idea what's going on here.  If you do please let us know.

 

Larry Huang

Larry Huang, one of Ciena's four founding members.

 

Steve Alexander and Cecil Smith on switch

A picture from the early days at Ciena, with Steve Alexander (left) and teammate Cecil Smith with the company's MultiWave 1600 Transmission System inside the Sprint lab in Burlingame, California.  The two are "ceremoniously" switching the system on before the team began testing in the Sprint lab.

 

Dave Doucet and Michael Hubbard 花魁直播Vectors Ottawa R&D Labs 2013

Dave Doucet (left) and Michael Hubbard show off Ciena's new WaveLogic 3 coherent chipset that was shown to customers at our 花魁直播Vectors event from our Ottawa R&D Labs in 2013.

 

花魁直播booth SuperComm 2001

Quite the display at the 花魁直播booth at this tradeshow (we think this is SuperComm 2001) where our new CoreDirector plaform rose above a wasteland of other vendor's useless equipment.

 

花魁直播first manufacturing group 1995

Steve Alexander (bottom right) and most of Ciena's first manufacturing group, in the lab in 1995.

 

花魁直播R&D lab Ottawa, Canada

The fiber innards of Ciena's R&D lab in Ottawa, Canada, circa 2011.

 

Cyan employees 花魁直播t-shirts

Former Cyan employees enjoyed a welcome celebration event in Petaluma, California, in 2015 to celebrate Ciena's acquisition of Cyan and their Blue Planet solution.

 

花魁直播team NYSE 2014

花魁直播CEO Gary Smith and team on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in April 2014. 花魁直播rang the opening bell to celebrate the company's move from NASDAQ to the NYSE exchange.

 

Innovation Lab truck Rome 2013

Ciena's mobile innovation lab on wheels makes a stop in Rome in 2013.

 

花魁直播Headquarters Hanover, Maryland

Our new 花魁直播headquarters in Hanover, Maryland. 花魁直播moved from our previous campus in Linthicum, MD, in 2012.

 

Have pictures of your own from Ciena's history that you'd like to share? Email them to me and we'll add them to our collection that we're posting to our Facebook page throughout the rest of the year.