ADVA Optical Networking

Corporate history

ADVA Optical Networking was founded in Germany in 1994 by Brian Protiva. It established its headquarters in Martinsried near Munich and its first production facility in Meiningen. Funded by Egora Holding, the company’s initial focus was on the development of wavelength division multiplexing technology, designed to provide enterprises, including banks, insurance firms and utilities, with high-bandwidth network connectivity.

Its first product, the Excon Multiplexer, was launched in the following year and it was first deployed by Westfälische Landesbank.

The company then added sales offices in mainland Europe and one in New Jersey, USA, before selling media converters to its first carrier customer, COLT Telecom Group, in 1997.

This was followed by its second product, the Optical Channel Multiplexer and its third generation of products, the Fiber Service Platform I and FSP II.

In 1999, ADVA Optical Networking made an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and in the following year it launched its fourth generation of products, the ADVA FSP 3000 and the ADVA FSP 500.

In 2000, it acquired Storage Area Networks Ltd., Cellware Broadband Technologie GmbH, FirstFibre Ltd. and Siemens Norway * Telecom R&D Division.

After opening a new R&D, production and administration facility in Meiningen in 2001, the company began to build its market share in North America and Asia, signing OEM agreements with Fujitsu and Hitachi Ltd.

In 2003, ADVA Optical Networking introduced the FSP 1500, a generic framing procedure next-generation synchronous digital hierarchy access solution and in the next year it introduced its first FSP 150 Ethernet access product.

It also made its next acquisitions with Metro Packet Systems, Inc. in 2004. Two years later, it acquired Covaro Networks and then Movaz Networks Inc. for 6.52 million shares of common stock and $6 million cash.

In 2011, ADVA Optical Networking developed the FSP 150EG-X edge gateway for Carrier Ethernet access and backhaul networks.

A new user network interface, RAYcontrol™, was developed for ADVA Optical Networking's GMPLS control plane in 2012, along with the Syncjack ™ suite for timing synchronization and assurance across mobile backhaul networks.

In 2014, ADVA Optical Networking acquired Oscilloquartz SA. This was followed in 2015 by the acquisition of Time4 Systems.

In January 2016, ADVA Optical Networking acquired Overture Networks for an initial $35 million plus a $5 million conditional "earn-out" payment.

Its annual revenue rose from EUR 217.7 million in 2008 to EUR 566.7 million in 2016.

Chief officers

Acquisitions

2016

2015

2014

2006

2004

2000

Products

The FSP 150 family. This platform provides intelligent Ethernet access solutions.

The FSP 3000. This platform is a scalable Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) system.

The FSP Management Suite contains four pieces:

Markets

ADVA Optical Networking focuses on two network markets: Enterprise and Carrier.

Enterprise Networks

This includes customers in vertical markets, such as research-and-education organizations, governments, banks, insurance firms, utilities and the media. Each segment has its own network focus, including:

Carrier Networks

Carrier networks are undergoing a period of significant change. Business and residential customers are demanding access to high-bandwidth applications that are creating enormous data demands on today’s network infrastructure, including:

Market share

In 2009, Infonetics Research listed ADVA Optical Networking as the industry leader (#1 position) in the Ethernet Access Device (EAD) space with a market share of 20 percent, Based on 2008 revenues. This market strength is also reflected in the WDM space, where Infonetics Research also listed ADVA Optical Networking as the #3 metro WDM provider in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, as well as #4 both globally and in North America.