Ciena to acquire Packet Design for network analytics and path computation

Ciena agreed to acquire privately-held Packet Design, a provider of network performance management software focused on Layer 3 network optimization, topology and route analytics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Packet Design's portfolio includes Route Explorer, an IP/MPLS route analytics software that provides management visibility into routing behavior for all IGP and BGP protocols, Layer 2/3 VPNs, traffic engineering tunnels, segment routing and multicast with real-time monitoring, historical reporting, and what-if modeling capabilities.

Ciena said the acquisition will help accelerate its Blue Planet software strategy by extending its intelligent automation capabilities beyond Layers 0-2 and into IP with critical new capabilities to help customers optimize service delivery and maximize network utilization. Specifically, the combination of the Blue Planet software platform and Packet Design’s performance analytics and service path computation capabilities will form a unique, micro-services-based platform that delivers real-time analytics, optimization and orchestration capabilities to support the broadest range of closed-loop automation use cases across multi-layer, multi-vendor networks.

“Blue Planet is already one of the premier brands in the network automation space. The addition of Packet Design will enhance our position by enabling customers to realize networks that are more adaptive – capable of self-optimizing and self-healing for faster time-to-market for new services, more efficient and lower cost network operations, and the ability to deliver an overall better customer experience,” said Rick Hamilton, senior vice president of Global Software and Services at Ciena.