ADVA Optical Networking is a telecommunications vendor that provides network equipment for data, storage, voice and video services. ADVA Optical Networking has a global workforce of over 1,000 employees and its Fiber Service Platform (FSP) has been deployed in more than 250 carriers and 10,000 enterprises.

Corporate history

• 1994: ADVA Optical Networking was founded by Brian Protiva, in Martinsried/Munich, Germany. Funded by Egora Holding, the company’s initial focus was the development of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology, designed to provide enterprises, including banks, insurance firms and utilities, with high-bandwidth network connectivity.
• 1995: ADVA Optical Networking launches its first product - the Escon Multiplexer. This product was used by Westfälische Landesbank.
• 1996: ADVA Optical Networking adds sales offices in mainland Europe and one in New Jersey, USA.
• 1997: ADVA Optical Networking sells media converters to its first carrier customer – COLT Telecom Group
  COLT Telecom Group
  Colt Technology Services is a telecommunications, IT managed services and data centre services company providing services to city-based large enterprise, small and midsize business and wholesale carriers throughout 21 countries in Europe...
  
  .
• 1998: ADVA Optical Networking launches its second product generation – the Optical Channel Multiplexer (OCM).
• 1999: ADVA Optical Networking launches its third generation of products – the Fiber Service Platform (FSP) I and FSP II.
• 1999: ADVA Optical Networking makes an initial public offering (IPO) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
• 2000: ADVA Optical Networking launches its fourth generation of products – the FSP 3000 and the FSP 500.
• 2000: ADVA Optical Networking acquires Storage Area Networks Ltd., Cellware Broadband Technologie GmbH, FirstFibre Ltd. and Siemens Norway * Telecom R&D Division.
• 2001: ADVA Optical Networking opens an R&D, production and administration facility in Meiningen
  Meiningen
  Meiningen is a town in Germany - located in the southern part of the state of Thuringia and is the district seat of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. It is situated on the river Werra....
  
  
• 2001–2003: ADVA Optical Networking builds market share in North America and Asia, signing OEM agreements with Fujitsu
  Fujitsu
  is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
  
   and Hitachi Ltd.
• 2003: ADVA Optical Networking launches the FSP 1500, a Generic Framing Procedure
  Generic Framing Procedure
  Generic Framing Procedure is a multiplexing technique defined by ITU-T G.7041. This allows mapping of variable length, higher-layer client signals over a circuit switched transport network like OTN, SDH/SONET or PDH...
  
   (GFP) next-generation Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) access solution
• 2004: ADVA Optical Networking acquires Metro Packet Systems, Inc.
• 2004: ADVA Optical Networking launches its first FSP 150 Ethernet access product.
• 2006: ADVA Optical Networking acquires Covaro Networks, Inc. and Movaz Networks, Inc.
• 2008: ADVA Optical Networking achieves annual revenue of EUR 217.7 million.
• 2009: ADVA Optical Networking achieves annual revenue of EUR 232.8 million.
• 2010: ADVA Optical Networking achieves annual revenue of EUR 291.7 million.

Chief officers

• CEO – Brian Protiva
• CFO & COO – Jaswir Singh
• CTO – Christoph Glingener
• CSMO – Christian Unterberger

Acquisitions

2000

• Siemens Norway Telecom R&D, Team Oslo, Norway
• First Fibre Ltd., York, UK
• Cellware Breitband Technologie GmbH, Berlin, Germany
• Storage Area Networks Ltd., Cambridge, UK

2004

• Metro Packet Systems Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, USA

2006

• Movaz Networks, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Covaro Networks, Inc., Richardson, Texas, USA

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:

• The FSP Element Manager - a Local Craft Terminal (LCT) application to activate, provision and monitor individual network elements.

• The FSP Network Manager - an Element Management System (EMS) that provides end-to-end network management.

• The FSP Network Planner – a software tool designed to simplify the network planning process and save time preparing network configurations.

• The FSP Service Manager - provides the capability to quickly and easily manage the end-to-end delivery of business-aligned, high-quality services across networks.

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:

• Business continuity
• Disaster recovery
• Continuous data protection
• Grid computing
• Network and application virtualisation
• Distance learning
• Collaborative working
• Server consolidation
• Data center connectivity

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:

• Triple-play services
• IPTV
• Video on demand
• Video conferencing
• Online gaming
• Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
• Ethernet services
• LAN services
• Mobile data services

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.