New Delhi: Ciena has announced the acquisition of the optical and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business.

"The acquisition of these assets accelerates Ciena's overall strategy and gives us stronger operating leverage to continue investing in innovation that will allow us to deliver on our vision for next-generation networks,"Gary Smith, Ciena's president and CEO said.

The $773.8 million, all cash acquisition will create the world's largest supplier exclusively focused on converged optical Ethernet.

"With broader geographic reach, deeper customer relationships and a stronger portfolio of solutions, we're confident that this acquisition positions Ciena for faster growth," Smith further added

As part of the integration process, Ciena has selected a senior management for the new entity and extended leadership teams with new, defined their areas of responsibility and accountability.

Ciena further informed that most of Nortel MEN's employees will be retained. Philippe Morin, previously president of Nortel MEN, has been appointed Ciena's SVP, Global Products Group. The vision for the transformed product portfolio has been determined, and a comprehensive portfolio update has been announced March 22, 2010.

The newly combined product and service portfolio will focus on converged optical Ethernet, uniting the companies’ expertise in optical and Carrier Ethernet technologies with control plane and management software.

Ciena is structuring its portfolio in five distinct product groupings; Packet-Optical Transport,Packet-Optical Switching, Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery, Ciena One Software Suite, Ciena Specialist Services.