Ericsson says Ciena deal will boost IP networks presence

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ericsson's agreement on Friday with Ciena for the development of joint transport solutions for IP-optical convergence will help Ericsson to reach its goal of becoming the No. 3 player within the IP networks market, an Ericsson spokesperson told Reuters.

Ericsson, the No. 1 global supplier of mobile network gear, is smaller than the likes of Cisco, Juniper and Alcatel-Lucent within IP-networks.

The Sweden-based telecoms supplier has the ambition to reach the No. 3 position within IP-networks within a few years, Jan Haglund, head of IP and Broadband within Ericsson's biggest business area Networks, told Reuters.

"In year 2020 about 30 percent of these markets will be dependent on common solutions for IP and optical systems, which is the underlying financial driver for this agreement with Ciena," Haglund said.

Haglund said the market for IP networks is worth about 15 billion dollars currently with an annual growth of about 5 percent and that the market for optical systems is worth 10 to 15 billion dollars per year.

Ericsson will, as part of the agreement, offer Ciena's Converged Packet Optical portfolio, Ericsson said.

(By Olof Swahnberg; Editing by Simon Johnson)