Q3 2026 Ciena Corp Earnings Call

September 3, 2026

Speaker #1: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the CIENA fiscal Q3 2026 financial results call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session.

Operator: Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to the Ciena Fiscal Q3 2026 financial results call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Gregg Lampf, Vice President, Investor Relations. Gregg, please go ahead.

Speaker #1: If you would like to ask a question, please press *1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press *1 again. I will now hand the conference over to Gregg Lampf, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Speaker #1: Gregg, please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning, and welcome to Ciena's 2026 fiscal third quarter conference call. On the call today are Gary Smith, President and CEO, and Marc Graff, CFO.

Gregg Lampf: Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning and welcome to Ciena's 2026 fiscal third quarter conference call. On the call today is Gary Smith, President and CEO, and Marc Graff, CFO. Scott McFeely, Executive Advisor, is also with us for Q&A. In addition to this call and the press release, we've posted to the investor section of our website an accompanying investor presentation that reflects this discussion as well as certain highlighted items from the quarter. Our comments today speak to our recent performance, our views on current market dynamics and drivers of our business, as well as a discussion of our financial outlook. Today's discussion includes certain adjusted or non-GAAP measures of Ciena's results of operations. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to our GAAP results is included in today's release. Before turning the call over to Gary, I'll remind you that during this call we'll be making certain forward-looking statements.

Speaker #2: Scott McFeely, Executive Advisor, is also with us for Q&A. In addition to this call and the press release, we've posted an accompanying investor presentation to the Investors section of our website. This presentation reflects this discussion, as well as certain highlighted items from the quarter.

Speaker #2: Our comments today speak to our recent performance, our views on current market dynamics and drivers of our business, as well as a discussion of our financial outlook.

Speaker #2: Today's discussion includes certain adjusted or non-GAAP measures of Ciena's results of operations. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to our GAAP results is included in today's release.

Speaker #2: Before turning the call over to Gary, I'll remind you that during this call, we'll be making certain forward-looking statements. Such statements—including our quarterly and annual guidance, commentary on market dynamics, and discussion of opportunities and strategy—are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions regarding the company and its markets. These include risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements discussed today.

Gregg Lampf: Such statements, including our quarterly and annual guidance, commentary on market dynamics, and discussion of opportunities and strategy are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions regarding the company and its markets, which include risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements discussed today. Assumptions relating to our outlook, whether mentioned on this call or included in the investor presentation that we posted earlier today, are an important part of such forward-looking statements, and we encourage you to consider them. Our forward-looking statements should also be viewed in the context of the risk factors detailed in our most recent 10-K and our forthcoming 10-Q. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information discussed in this conference call, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Speaker #2: Assumptions relating to our outlook, whether mentioned on this call or included in the investor presentation that we posted earlier today, are an important part of such forward-looking statements, and we encourage you to consider them.

Speaker #2: Our forward-looking statements should also be viewed in the context of the risk factors detailed in our most recent 10-K and our forthcoming 10-Q. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information discussed in this conference call, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Speaker #2: As always, we'll allow for as much Q&A as possible today, though we ask that you limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. I'll hand the call over to Gary.

Gregg Lampf: As always, we'll allow for as much Q&A as possible today, though we ask that you limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. I'll hand the call over to Gary.

Speaker #3: Thanks, Gregg. And good morning, everybody. Today we reported record financial results across the board. We demonstrated outstanding third quarter performance, including revenues of $1.7 billion, another quarterly record and up 37% year-on-year.

Gary Smith: Thanks, Gregg, and good morning, everybody. Today, we reported record financial results across the board. We demonstrated outstanding Q3 performance, including revenues of $1.7 billion, another quarterly record, and up 37% year on year. Adjusted operating margin of 22.5%, exceeding guidance, was more than doubling year on year and the highest ever achieved for the company. Our adjusted EPS are up 215% year on year to a record $2.11. We delivered results in the context of an extraordinary industry demand environment that continues to accelerate. We continue to see strong momentum in customer demand and order flow with a Q3 book-to-bill ratio that was significantly greater than one, which resulted in a substantial quarterly increase in our backlog. We also expect backlog to grow at an even greater rate in Q4.

Speaker #3: Adjusted operating margin of $22.5 million, exceeding guidance, was more than doubling year-on-year and the highest ever achieved for the company. Our adjusted earnings per share are up 215% year-on-year to a record $2.11.

Speaker #3: We delivered results in the context of an extraordinary industry demand environment that continues to accelerate. We continue to see strong momentum in customer demand and order flow.

Speaker #3: With a Q3 book-to-bill ratio that was significantly greater than 1, we saw a substantial quarterly increase in our backlog. We also expect backlog to grow at an even greater rate in Q4.

Speaker #3: In fact, just one month into this quarter, we are approaching a level of orders booked equal to the entirety of Q3. As a result, we are currently projecting to exit fiscal 2026 with over $10 billion in backlog.

Gary Smith: In fact, just one month into this quarter, we are approaching a level of orders booked equal to the entirety of Q3. As a result, we are currently projecting to exit fiscal 2026 with over $10 billion in backlog. Overall, our outstanding Q3 performance reflects Ciena's essential role in the fundamental re-architecting of network infrastructure. Looking at these industry dynamics, I would remind everybody that we remain in the very early stages of a multi-year, highly durable network investment era. This is springboarding and caused by the large and growing investments in data center infrastructure. AI is starting to build on the previous eras of communications, including those driven first by the internet and then by the cloud. It is doing so at a massive scale.

Speaker #3: Overall, our outstanding Q3 performance reflects Ciena's essential role in the fundamental rearchitecting of network infrastructure. And looking at these industry dynamics, I would remind everybody that we remain in the very early stages of a multi-year, highly durable network investment era.

Speaker #3: This is springboarding and is caused by the large and growing investments in data center infrastructure. AI is starting to build on the previous eras of communications.

Speaker #3: Including those driven first by the internet and then by the cloud. But it is doing so at a massive scale. As a result, AI is currently driving—and will continue to drive—significant increases in both bandwidth connectivity demand and network traffic growth.

Gary Smith: As a result, AI is currently driving and will continue to drive significant increases in both bandwidth connectivity demand and network traffic growth. In that context, high speed, low latency optical connectivity has become a critical enabler to not only operationalizing the AI-driven investments in the network and the data center, but also monetizing those investments over time. Because of the increasing demands for higher capacity, faster speed, greater density, improved reliability, reduced space, and lower power and cost, Optics have become the indispensable element for next generation AI architectures. This is manifesting across all three of our primary markets. First, you call it the traditional network or the WAN, encompasses the network backbone, network edge, and network operations. It includes optical connectivity for long-haul sub-sea metro regional applications that people are familiar with.

Speaker #3: In that context, high-speed, low-latency optical connectivity has become a critical enabler to not only operationalizing the AI-driven investments in the network and the data center, but also monetizing those investments over time.

Speaker #3: And because of the increasing demands for higher capacity, faster speed, greater density, improved reliability, reduced space, and lower power and cost, optics have become an indispensable element for next-generation AI architectures.

Speaker #3: And this is manifesting across all three of our primary markets. First, you can call it the traditional network, or the wide-area network, the WAN. This encompasses the network backbone, network edge, and network operations.

Speaker #3: It includes optical connectivity for long-haul, subsea, metro, and regional applications that people are familiar with. It has also been impacted by AI in a number of ways.

Gary Smith: It is also being impacted by AI in a number of ways, from challenges of fiber availability in the backbone to quality of service demands at the edge, to the requirements of automation to address the increasing complexity of network operations. Second is a market that we are referring to as AI-WAN. It includes both DCI for the WAN backbone and scale across, currently used for distributed training across data centers and subsequently to be used for inferencing. Here, the fundamental challenges are related to power caused by the increasing GPU compute capacity and energy load required to train large language models at scale, and the high volume, low price demands of deploying modems at much greater scale. The third is, of course, the data center themselves, which includes the fabric connectivity domains of scale up and scale out, as well as data center operations.

Speaker #3: From challenges of fiber availability in the backbone, to quality-of-service demands at the edge, to the requirements of automation to address the increasing complexity of network operations.

Speaker #3: Second is a market that we are referring to as AI WAN. It includes both data center interconnect, or DCI, for the WAN backbone, and scale across.

Speaker #3: Currently used for distributed training across data centers, and subsequently to be used for inferencing. Here, the fundamental challenges are related to power, caused by the increasing GPU compute capacity and energy load required to train large language models at scale.

Speaker #3: And the high-volume, low-price demands of deploying modems at much greater scale. The third is, of course, the data centers themselves, which includes the fabric connectivity domains of scale-up and scale-out, as well as data center operations.

Speaker #3: As AI continues to drive up data rates and bandwidth requirements inside the data center, new optical technologies and applications are required to provide the necessary improvements in capacity and density for short-reach, low-power connections.

Gary Smith: As AI continues to drive up the data rates and bandwidth requirements inside the data center, new optical technologies and applications are required to provide the needed improvements in capacity and density for short reach, low power connections. Given the acceleration and projected increase in the compounding waves of spend on network infrastructure across these markets, we continue to believe that the total addressable market for our business will effectively double over the next 3 years, growing from approximately USD 25 billion today to approximately USD 50 billion by 2029. Moreover, given our growing competitive advantages, we expect our share of that TAM to continue to increase over that time frame. More specifically, Ciena's long-established technology leadership in optical networking positions us to capture a growing share of wallet as optical connectivity expands its role throughout the WAN and inside the data center.

Speaker #3: Given the acceleration and projected increase in the compounding waves of spend on network infrastructure across these markets, we continue to believe that the total addressable market for our business will effectively double over the next three years.

Speaker #3: Growing from approximately $25 billion today to approximately $50 billion by 2029. Moreover, given our growing competitive advantages, we expect our share of that TAM to continue to increase over that timeframe.

Speaker #3: More specifically, Ciena’s long-established technology leadership in optical networking positions us to capture a growing share of wallet as optical connectivity expands its role throughout the WAN and inside the data center.

Speaker #3: Across generations of coherent technology, Ciena's first-to-market benchmarks have set the bar for the industry, and continue to do so. Ciena was the first to commercialize coherent optics decades ago.

Gary Smith: Across generations of coherent technology, Ciena's first to market benchmarks have set the bar for the industry and continue to do so. Ciena was the first to commercialize coherent optics decades ago, and we continue to lead the industry in optical innovation, backed by very focused R&D, deep expertise, and proven deployment at scale. Moving forward, performance gains will increasingly depend on precisely these capabilities. Because of our leadership position and value proposition, we have developed a high degree of competitive differentiation across our portfolio, with the clearest proof being the customer adoption that we are seeing across our portfolio in each of the primary market segments. Starting with both the traditional WAN market, as I outlined, and the AI-WAN. Today's market dynamics are driving higher adoption rates for our WaveLogic 6 Extreme platform, which after 18 months is still the only 1.6 terabit high performance modem on the market today.

Speaker #3: And we continue to lead the industry in optical innovation, backed by very focused R&D, deep expertise, and proven deployment at scale. Moving forward, performance gains will increasingly depend on precisely these capabilities.

Speaker #3: Because of our leadership position and value proposition, we've developed a high degree of competitive differentiation across our portfolio, with the clearest proof being the customer adoption that we're seeing across our portfolio in each of the primary market segments.

Speaker #3: So, starting with both the traditional WAN market, as I outlined, and the AI WAN, today's market dynamics are driving higher adoption rates for our WaveLogic 6 Extreme platform.

Speaker #3: Which, after 18 months, is still the only 1.6-terabit high-performance modem on the market today. Notably, its ramp has already exceeded that of our prior-generation WaveLogic 5E.

Gary Smith: Notably, its ramp has already exceeded that of our prior generation WaveLogic 5e. Separately, customer adoption and scaling of our intelligent line systems remains exceptionally strong. RLS is basically the industry standard in disaggregated optical line systems, where Ciena's first-mover advantage has driven a leading installed base, where roughly we have 70% market share. In addition to serving cloud providers and service providers in the network backbone and cloud providers for DCI in the AI-WAN, RLS is the industry's first system deployed for scale across applications. The next generation of RLS, Hyper-Rail, is our second generation of RLS and represents our sixth generation of photonic line systems leadership. Co-created with the hyperscalers, it dramatically increases the density of existing optical amplifier infrastructure, and as such, is purpose-built to address the needs to distribute AI training workloads in data centers across greater distances.

Speaker #3: Separately, customer adoption and scaling of our intelligent line systems remains exceptionally strong. RLS is basically the industry standard in disaggregated optical line systems, where Ciena's first-mover advantage is driven by a leading installed base, where roughly we have 70% market share.

Speaker #3: In addition to serving cloud providers and service providers in the network backbone, and cloud providers for DCI in the AI WAN, RLS is the industry's first system deployed for scale across applications.

Speaker #3: And the next generation of RLS, HyperRail, is our second generation of RLS and represents our sixth generation of photonic line systems leadership. Co-created with the hyperscalers, it dramatically increases the density of existing optical amplifier infrastructure.

Speaker #3: And as such, it is purpose-built to address the needs of distributing AI training workloads in data centers across greater distances. With customer orders ramping, we remain on track for initial customer standardization for RLS HyperRail by the end of 2026.

Gary Smith: With customer orders ramping, we remain on track for initial customer standardization for RLS Hyper-Rail by the end of 2026 and scaling to material revenue as we move throughout 2027. Turning to our interconnects portfolio, we are applying our optical leadership to a growing portfolio of connectivity solutions that address surging bandwidth demands inside and around the data center and the performance limitations, of course, of today's short-reach technologies. Starting with our WaveLogic 5 Nano pluggable optics, we are seeing strong market adoption as we continue to ramp into production volume. In fact, in Q3, we shipped more than twice the volume of 800ZR plugs than in the previous quarter. In addition, during the quarter, we made strong progress with the components portion of our interconnects portfolio. We are seeing strong market receptivity to Nitro, our linear redriver for active copper cable solutions.

Speaker #3: And scaling to material revenue as we move throughout 2027. Turning to our interconnects portfolio, we're applying our optical leadership to a growing portfolio of connectivity solutions that address surging bandwidth demands inside and around the data center, and, of course, the performance limitations of today's short-reach technologies.

Speaker #3: Starting with our WaveLogic 5 Nano pluggable optics, we are seeing strong market adoption as we continue to ramp into production volume. In fact, in Q3, we shipped more than twice the volume of 800ZR plugs than in the previous quarter.

Speaker #3: In addition, during the quarter, we made strong progress with the components portion of our interconnects portfolio. We are seeing strong market receptivity to Nitro, our linear re-driver for active copper cable solutions.

Speaker #3: And I'm pleased to report that we received sample orders from several anchor customers in the ecosystem for Vesta, our open co-packaged optical, or CPO, solution.

Gary Smith: I am pleased to report that we received sample orders from several anchor customers in the ecosystem for Vesta, our open co-packaged optical or CPX solution. This represents another important step towards the commercialization of our open ecosystem approach towards short-reach data center optics, and we believe this is gaining meaningful industry momentum, most importantly with potential customers. As any new growth sector, our CPX business will continue to strengthen over time with revenue expected to begin in 2027 and ramping into 2028. Finally, it is worth noting that last quarter we announced a significant win with a major hyperscaler that integrates our WaveLogic 6 Extreme coherent technology into their own platform. This solution goes well beyond the modem and combines our DSP, drivers, TIAs, and coherent expertise into a complete module that will be deployed broadly across the customer's global optical network via their own optical platform.

Speaker #3: This represents another important step toward the commercialization of our open ecosystem approach to short-reach data center optics. We believe this is gaining meaningful industry momentum.

Speaker #3: Most importantly, with potential customers. As with any new growth sector, our CPX business will continue to strengthen over time, with revenue expected to begin in 2027 and ramp into 2028.

Speaker #3: And finally, it's worth noting that last quarter we announced a significant win with a major hyperscaler that integrates our WaveLogic 6E coherent technology into their own platform.

Speaker #3: This solution goes well beyond the modem and combines our DSP, drivers, TIAs, and coherent expertise into a complete module that will be deployed broadly across the customer's global optical network via their own optical platform.

Speaker #3: I think this win demonstrates our ability to deliver for our customers across multiple consumption models. With our best-in-class portfolio, this represents a significant takeaway from a component competitor.

Gary Smith: I think this win demonstrates our ability to deliver for our customers across multiple consumption models with our best-in-class portfolio, and this represents a significant takeaway from a component competitor. At the highest level, the current and future waves of AI-driven demands on bandwidth and network traffic will require industry-leading, high-speed optical connectivity. We remain focused on managing the business with this long-term view, supported by durable demand, a broad set of co-creation opportunities and customer design wins, robust orders, and a backlog that extends well into fiscal 2028. Looking forward, the strength of our market position and the breadth of our portfolio provide us with growing confidence and visibility into a multi-year runway of growth, operating leverage, and increasing profitability. As a result, and to add to this level of confidence, we recently secured a significant increase in customer commitments that extend through 2029.

Speaker #3: At the highest level, the current and future waves of AI-driven demands on bandwidth and network traffic will require industry-leading, high-speed optical connectivity. We remain focused on managing the business with this long-term view, supported by durable demand, a broad set of co-creation opportunities, customer design wins, robust orders, and a backlog that extends well into fiscal 2028.

Speaker #3: Looking forward, the strength of our market position and the breadth of our portfolio provide us with growing confidence and visibility into a multi-year runway of growth.

Speaker #3: Operating leverage and increasing profitability. As a result, and to add to this level of confidence, we recently secured a significant increase in customer commitments that extend through 2029.

Speaker #3: At the same time, as Marc will discuss in a few moments, we've also secured incremental supply capacity for critical components—optical components—to service that multi-year demand.

Gary Smith: At the same time, as Marc will discuss in a few moments, we have also secured incremental supply capacity for critical components, optical components to service that multi-year demand. In summary, Ciena's unmatched combination of leading optical technologies, incumbency, portfolio breadth, and deep expertise across systems, components, software, and services gives us a powerful and sustainable competitive advantage. As the only pure play optical systems and interconnects vendor operating at scale, we are uniquely positioned to convert AI-driven demand into durable top-line growth with increasing operating leverage and earnings power over multiple years, delivering differentiated value for our customers and our shareholders. With that, I will hand the call over to Marc for an update on our financials and our outlooks.

Speaker #3: So, in summary, Ciena's unmatched combination of leading optical technologies, incumbency, portfolio breadth, and deep expertise across systems, components, software, and services gives us a powerful and sustainable competitive advantage.

Speaker #3: And really, as the only pure-play optical systems and interconnects vendor operating at scale, we are uniquely positioned to convert AI-driven demand into durable top-line growth, with increasing operating leverage and earnings power over multiple years.

Speaker #3: Delivering differentiated value for our customers and our shareholders. With that, I'll hand the call over to Marc for an update on our financials and our outlook.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Gary. And good morning, everyone. As Gary just discussed, our focus is on delivering strong financial performance while ensuring security of supply and manufacturing capacity necessary to support the significant multi-year demand in front of us.

Marc Graff: Thank you, Gary, and good morning, everyone. As Gary just discussed, our focus is on delivering strong financial performance while ensuring security of supply and manufacturing capacity necessary to support the significant multi-year demand in front of us. Within that context, we continue to make excellent progress against our three financial priorities. First, let me discuss our progress on gross margin. We achieved 46.4% adjusted gross margin this quarter, which was positively impacted by the treatment of tariff refunds by about 70 basis points. Even without the tariff impact, gross margin achieved the top end of guidance, reflecting disciplined at-cost execution, favorable mix, and pricing discipline. Our midterm goal is to structurally position the company to achieve mid-40s gross margins. With our results over the past several quarters, we are confident that we have reset our margin baseline to this mid-40s goal.

Speaker #2: Within that context, we continue to make excellent progress against our three financial priorities. First, let me discuss our progress on gross margin. We achieved a 46.4% adjusted gross margin this quarter, which was positively impacted by the treatment of tariff refunds by about 70 basis points.

Speaker #2: Even without the tariff impact, gross margin achieved the top end of guidance, reflecting disciplined at-cost execution, favorable mix, and pricing discipline. Our mid-term goal was to structurally position the company to achieve mid-40s gross margins.

Speaker #2: With our results over the past several quarters, we are confident that we have reset our margin baseline to this mid-40s goal. But as we've said over the past year, the mid-40s goal was a waypoint, not the final destination.

Marc Graff: But as we have said over the past year, the mid-40s goal was a waypoint, not the final destination. We have the cost structure and leadership portfolio to expand gross margins further over the next few years. Second, as we balance the investments to support the growth of our business, working capital remains a focus. While our cash conversion has taken a step back quarter on quarter, the overall trend is positive relative to the year-ago results. We have invested working capital to support slightly higher inventory levels and to increase revenue through the quarter. Even with these investments, we have generated $116 million in free cash flow. Third is capital allocation. We continue to take meaningful steps to improve the operational and financial efficiency of the business. Our June convertible debt issuance achieved two specific goals.

Speaker #2: We have the cost structure and leadership portfolio to expand gross margins further over the next few years. Second, as we balance the investments to support the growth of our business, working capital remains a focus.

Speaker #2: While our cash conversion has taken a step back quarter-on-quarter, relative to the year-ago results, we've invested working capital to support slightly higher inventory levels and to increase revenue through the quarter.

Speaker #2: Even with these investments, we've generated $116 million in free cash flow. Third is capital allocation. We continue to take meaningful steps to improve the operational and financial efficiency of the business.

Speaker #2: Our June convertible debt issuance achieved two specific goals. First, it lowered our cost of capital with a five-year, zero-coupon instrument at an economic conversion premium of 114%, from which we retired our 5.5% interest term loan.

Marc Graff: First, it lowered our cost of capital with a five-year zero coupon instrument at an economic conversion premium of 114%, from which we retired our 5.5% interest term loan. Second, it provided the capital to help secure supply over the next three years. We maintain strategic flexibility as a result and have $2.8 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of Q3. Our capital investments this year have increased capacity sufficient to support RLS, Plug, and Waveserver revenue growth, all over 60% year to date. Additionally, we continue to return capital to our shareholders in Q3. We repurchased 356,000 shares for an aggregate price of $172 million, reflecting the acceleration associated with the convert deal. Lastly, we expect to be on the high end of our capital expenditure range of $250 to $275 million. Now let's move to the quarterly results in more detail.

Speaker #2: Second, it provided the capital to help secure supply over the next three years. We maintain strategic flexibility as a result and have $2.8 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of Q3.

Speaker #2: Our capital investments this year have increased capacity sufficient to support RLS, Plug, and WaveServer revenue growth—all over 60% year to date. Additionally, we continue to return capital to our shareholders in Q3.

Speaker #2: We repurchased 356,000 shares for an aggregate price of $172 million, reflecting the acceleration associated with the convert deal. Lastly, we expect to be on the high end of our capital expenditure range of $250 million to $275 million.

Speaker #2: Now let's move to the quarter results in more detail. As Gary noted in his opening remarks, revenue achieved $1.67 billion—at the top end of our guidance—an increase of 37% year on year, and another quarterly record.

Marc Graff: As Gary Smith noted in his opening remarks, revenue achieved $1.67 billion at the top end of our guidance, an increase of 37% year on year, and another quarterly record. Our total combined optical networks revenue, including interconnects, grew over 45% year on year, supported by over 55% growth for both our RLS and Waveserver systems. Our interconnects more than doubled year on year, while our direct cloud provider revenue grew over 80%. Our in and around the data center percent of revenue has quadrupled year to date, well ahead of our committed 3x growth from the beginning of the year. We had two customers that each contributed more than 10% of revenue. Lastly, we exited Q3 with an $800 million increase in backlog to $8.5 billion. Orders continue to accelerate.

Speaker #2: Our total combined optical network revenue, including interconnects, grew over 45% year over year, supported by over 55% growth for both our RLS and Waveserver systems.

Speaker #2: Our interconnects, more than doubled year on year, while our direct cloud provider revenue grew over 80%. Our in and around the data center percent of revenue has quadrupled year to date, well ahead of our committed 3x growth from the beginning of the year.

Speaker #2: We had two customers that each contributed more than 10% of revenue. And lastly, we exited Q3 with an $800 million increase in backlog, to $8.5 billion.

Speaker #2: Orders continue to accelerate. As Gary noted, one month into the quarter we have booked nearly as much demand as all of Q3, and expect to end the year with more than $10 billion in backlog.

Marc Graff: As Gary Smith noted, one month into the quarter, we have booked nearly as much demand as all of Q3 and expect to end the year with more than $10 billion in backlog. As I noted earlier, adjusted gross margin was 46.4%, exceeding the top end of our guidance by 90 basis points and up 450 basis points year on year. Q3 adjusted operating expense was $400 million, coming in at the low end of our guide and driving a record adjusted operating margin of 22.5%, 250 basis points over our guide and more than doubling the year ago result. Adjusted EPS reached $2.11, more than triple the year ago figure and achieving a new record level for the company. Now let's move to guidance for the last quarter of the year.

Speaker #2: As I noted earlier, adjusted gross margin was 46.4%, exceeding the top end of our guidance by 90 basis points and up 450 basis points year over year.

Speaker #2: Q3 adjusted operating expense was $400 million, coming in at the low end of our guide and driving a record adjusted operating margin of 22.5%—250 basis points over our guide, and more than doubling the year-ago result.

Speaker #2: Adjusted EPS reached $2.11, more than triple the year-ago figure and achieving a new record level for the company. Now, let's move to guidance for the last quarter of the year.

Speaker #2: In Q4 '26, we expect to deliver revenue of $1.75 billion, plus or minus $50 million, raising the full-year midpoint to $6.42 billion, up $120 million from last quarter.

Marc Graff: In Q4 2026, we expect to deliver revenue of $1.75 billion plus or minus $50 million, raising the full year midpoint to $6.42 billion, up $120 million from last quarter. With this revenue guide, we expect to increase our market share in the combined optical systems and plug market by about 4 points to approximately 30%. We expect adjusted gross margins of 45% plus or minus 50 basis points, bringing the year to a similar range, a raise of 50 basis points from last quarter. Adjusted operating expense will be roughly $415 million plus or minus $10 million, with our annual OpEx at $1.6 billion, slightly down from the June guide.

Speaker #2: With this revenue guide, we expect to increase our market share in the combined optical systems and plug market by about four points, to approximately 30%.

Speaker #2: We expect adjusted gross margins of 45%, plus or minus 50 basis points, bringing the year to a similar range—a raise of 50 basis points from last quarter.

Speaker #2: Adjusted operating spend will be roughly $415 million, plus or minus $10 million, with our annual opex at $1.6 billion, slightly down from the June guide.

Speaker #2: All told, we expect to drive an adjusted operating margin of approximately 20%, plus or minus 50 basis points, bringing the full year to between 20% and 21%, and exceeding the 20% annual figure for the first time in the company's history.

Marc Graff: All told, we expect to drive an adjusted operating margin of approximately 20% plus or minus 50 basis points, bringing the full year to between 20% and 21% and exceeding the 20% annual figure for the first time in the company's history. Now let me address the topic of supply more closely. Gary Smith described an unprecedented durable demand environment with backlog now into 2028. To ensure our ability to service this demand, we have taken decisive steps to strengthen our supply security and to increase our output. In recent weeks, we finalized long-term agreements that secure supply of certain key components through 2029, including incremental capacity for those key components that will enable us to support growing customer demand. This extends the investments we have made for this year to drive 35% revenue growth.

Speaker #2: Now, let me address the topic of supply more closely. Gary described an unprecedented, durable demand environment, with backlog now into 2028. To ensure our ability to service this demand, we've taken decisive steps to strengthen our supply security and increase our output.

Speaker #2: In recent weeks, we've finalized long-term agreements that secure the supply of certain key components through 2029, including incremental capacity for those key components that will enable us to support growing customer demand.

Speaker #2: This extends the investments we've made for this year to drive 35% revenue growth. We continue to invest upstream to drive security of supply, to meet and eventually bring into balance the demand backlog.

Marc Graff: We continue to invest upstream to drive security of supply to meet and eventually bring into balance the demand backlog. As a result, we expect to see a reduction in cash from operations in Q4 as investments are dispersed to support these agreements. At the same time, we continue to make progress in the value exchange discussions with our customers. In addition to price discussions, these conversations are increasingly focused on the alignment of various demand terms and conditions with the capacity required to support them. With this ongoing momentum and improved visibility into future demand, we believe it is prudent to provide early direction for fiscal 2027. As we see it today, we expect to deliver another record year with revenue growing a minimum of 30% year-on-year, yielding at least $8.3 billion to $8.4 billion in revenue with supply driven upsides.

Speaker #2: As a result, we expect to see a reduction in cash from operations in Q4, as investments are disbursed to support these agreements. At the same time, we continue to make progress in the value exchange discussions with our customers.

Speaker #2: In addition to price discussions, these conversations are increasingly focused on the alignment of various demand terms and conditions with the capacity required to support them.

Speaker #2: With this ongoing momentum and improved visibility into future demand, we believe it's prudent to provide early direction for fiscal 2027. As we see it today, we expect to deliver another record year, with revenue growing a minimum of 30% year on year, yielding at least $8.3 to $8.4 billion in revenue, with supply-driven upsides.

Speaker #2: Our investments in capacity and supply allow us to accelerate absolute revenue growth from '25 to '26, and now into '27. At these levels, we expect to again increase our market share in optical systems and plugs in fiscal 2027.

Marc Graff: Our investments in capacity and supply allow us to accelerate absolute revenue growth from 2025 to 2026 and now into 2027. At these levels, we expect to again increase our market share in optical systems and plugs in fiscal 2027. We expect gross margins to be at least between 45% and 46%. We expect to achieve fiscal 2027 adjusted operating margin between 25% and 27%, posting yet another record in profitability and serving as yet another proof point for the earnings potential of Ciena's model. Again, this is our preliminary view of 2027, and we will provide an update when we report our Q4 results in December. In the interim, we look forward to continuing the dialogue in a few weeks' time in Ottawa at our investor forum, the content from which will be posted on our investor website afterwards.

Speaker #2: We expect gross margins to be at least between 45% and 46%. We expect to achieve fiscal 2027 adjusted operating margins between 25% and 27%, posting yet another record in profitability and serving as yet another proof point for the earnings potential of Ciena's model.

Speaker #2: Again, this is our preliminary view of 2027, and we'll provide an update when we report our Q4 results in December. In the interim, we look forward to continuing the dialogue in a few weeks' time in Ottawa at our investor forum, the content from which will be posted on our investor website afterwards.

Speaker #2: To close out, Q3 was a testament to the strength of Ciena's technology leadership, customer engagements, and supply resiliency in the face of unprecedented multi-year demand.

Marc Graff: To close out, Q3 was a testament to the strength of Ciena's technology leadership, customer engagement, and supply resiliency in the face of unprecedented multi-year demand. The execution of our business model has driven an acceleration of our earnings in Q3, in 2026, and we now believe into 2027 and beyond. With that, operator, we will now take questions from our sell side analysts.

Speaker #2: The execution of our business model has driven an acceleration of our earnings in Q3. For 2026, we now believe—into '27 and beyond. With that, operator, we'll now take questions from our sell-side analysts.

Speaker #1: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of George Notter with Wolfe Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #1: To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimal sound quality.

Speaker #1: If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of George Nodder with Wolf Research.

Speaker #1: Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #3: Hi, guys. Thanks very much for the question, and congrats on the terrific results here. I guess I wanted to start—just by, you mentioned value exchange on the call.

George Notter: Hi, guys. Thanks very much for the question. Congrats on the terrific results here. I guess I wanted to start just by, you mentioned value exchange on the call. Certainly, I think you mentioned prices as well as alignment of demand terms and conditions. Could you just talk a little bit more about what is going on there? Any sense for what price increases might look like? Any sense for what terms and conditions might be looking like in terms of the context of value exchange? Thanks.

Speaker #3: Certainly. I think you mentioned prices as well as the alignment of demand terms and conditions. Could you just talk a little bit more about what's going on there?

Speaker #3: Any sense for what price increases might look like? Any sense for what terms and conditions might be looking like, in terms of the context of value exchange?

Speaker #3: Thanks.

Speaker #4: Yeah. Hey George, it's Mark. Thanks for the question. I'll take it in two parts. On the pricing piece, we've had conversations with customers across different product lines.

Marc Graff: Yeah. Hey, George. It is Marc. Thanks for the question. I will take it in two parts. On the pricing piece, we have had conversations with customers across different product lines, and we have gotten to a space where we would expect, depending on the customer and the product line, anywhere between high single digits types of price increases to something in the range of high teens, low 20s type of price increases. What is remarkable, and I think you will appreciate this, George, is some of that will selectively hit backlog. I think we have made really good progress there. The second pillar in terms of conditions is really a two-way discussion. The first is we are on the hook to make sure that we deliver what we say we are going to deliver. But we expect the reciprocity of that from the customer side as well. So we have covered those aspects.

Speaker #4: And we've gotten to a space where, depending on the customer and the product line, we would expect anywhere between, call it, high single-digit types of price increases to something in the range of high teens to low 20s type of price increases.

Speaker #4: And what's remarkable—and I think you'll appreciate this, George—is that some of that will selectively hit backlog, right? So I think we've made really good progress there.

Speaker #4: The second pillar, in terms of conditions, is really a two-way discussion. The first is we're on the hook to make sure that we deliver what we say we're going to deliver.

Speaker #4: But we expect the reciprocity of that from the customer side as well. And so we've covered those aspects. We've talked a little bit about payment terms.

Marc Graff: But we expect the reciprocity of that from the customer side as well. So we have covered those aspects. We have talked a little bit about payment terms. We have talked a little bit about fill rates and things like that. We are trying to make it a pretty holistic conversation in terms of that value exchange, and not just have a conversation about price. Because just like we are looking for supply security, our customers are looking for supply security from us as well, and it is something that we feel pretty confident that with these supply agreements, that we can fulfill.

Marc Graff: We have talked a little bit about payment terms. We have talked a little bit about fill rates and things like that. We are trying to make it a pretty holistic conversation in terms of that value exchange, and not just have a conversation about price. Because just like we are looking for supply security, our customers are looking for supply security from us as well, and it is something that we feel pretty confident that with these supply agreements, that we can fulfill.

Speaker #4: We've talked a little bit about fill rates and things like that, so we're trying to make it a pretty holistic conversation in terms of that value exchange.

Speaker #4: And not just have a conversation about price. Because just like we're looking for supply security, our customers are looking for supply security from us as well.

Speaker #4: And it's something that we feel pretty confident that, with these supply agreements, we can fulfill.

Speaker #3: Got it. Super. And then, I know that there were some price increases, I think, earlier in the year last year—just around tariffs. Is that something that's flowing into the model now?

George Notter: Got it. Super. I know that there were some price increases, I think earlier in the year, last year, just around tariffs. Is that something that is flowing into the model now? I know that in the past you were not repricing backlogs, certainly. But is that something that is helping the gross margin now? Any sense there? Thanks.

Speaker #3: I know that in the past, you guys weren't—you were not repricing backlog, certainly—but is that something that's helping the gross margin now?

Speaker #3: Any sense there? Thanks.

Speaker #4: Yeah. It's real—again, this is Marc again, George. It's relatively neutral. We're not putting margin on top of tariffs, right? If we get $10 of tariffs, we kind of pass on that $10 of tariffs.

Marc Graff: Yeah. This is Marc again, George. It is relatively neutral. We are not putting margin on top of tariffs, right? If we get 10 bucks of tariffs, we kind of pass on that 10 bucks of tariffs. What we saw in Q1 was kind of a, or I am sorry, in Q3, was kind of a one-time accounting adjustment for those tariff refunds that we do not expect to continue moving forward, and that gave us about 70 basis points of uplift. But moving forward, I would say the tariff impact, again, under today's current regime, is relatively neutral. We are monitoring pretty closely some of the impacts that are coming out of the new Canadian tariff regime that could have an impact of call it $10-ish million a quarter. But again, we are still trying to work through the mitigation actions that we have got associated with that.

Speaker #4: What we saw in Q1 was kind of a—or, I'm sorry, in Q3—was kind of a one-time accounting adjustment for those tariff refunds that we don't expect to continue moving forward.

Speaker #4: And that gave us about 70 points, 70 basis points of uplift. But moving forward, I would say the tariff impact, again, under today's current regime, is relatively neutral.

Speaker #4: We're monitoring pretty closely some of the impacts that are coming out of the new Canadian tariff regime. That could have an impact of, call it, $10 million a quarter.

Speaker #4: But again, we're still trying to work through the mitigation actions that we've got associated with that.

Speaker #3: Super. I'll pass that on. Thanks a lot, guys.

George Notter: Super. I will pass it on. Thanks a lot, guys.

Speaker #4: Yep. Thanks, George.

Marc Graff: Yep. Thanks, George.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Tal Liani with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tal Liani with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Hello, good morning. Gary, if I told you three years ago that you're going to grow 30%, can you hear me?

Tal Liani: Hello. Good morning. Gary, if I told you three years ago that you are going to grow 30%. Can you hear me?

Speaker #6: Yes, I can hear you loud and clear. So, yeah.

Gary Smith: Yes, I can hear you.

Marc Graff: Hello?

Gary Smith: loud and clear, Tal. Yes.

Marc Graff: Perfect.

Speaker #5: Perfect.

Speaker #4: Perfect.

Tal Liani: Perfect. If I told you 3 years ago you were going to grow 30% with 26% margin, you would have asked to drink the same thing I am drinking. The question I have is about backlog. So your backlog is doubling this year, and it grows even faster than revenues. Your revenues are growing fast, and it grows even faster than revenues. I am trying to understand the early ordering portion of the backlog, the maybe customers are buying ahead just because of supply constraints. It is not a concern. I just want to understand, get understanding of how backlog could behave in 2027. That is the reason for my question.

Speaker #5: If I told you three years ago you were going to grow 30% with a 26% margin, you would have asked to drink the same thing I'm drinking.

Speaker #5: So the question I have is about backlog. Your backlog is doubling this year, and it’s growing even faster than revenues. Your revenues are growing fast, and backlog grows even faster than revenues.

Speaker #5: I'm trying to understand the early ordering portion of the backlog. Maybe customers are buying ahead just because of supply constraints. I'm not—it's not a concern.

Speaker #5: I'm just—I just want to understand, kind of get an understanding of how backlog could behave in 2027. That's the reason for my question.

Speaker #6: Okay, I think it's almost entirely just driven by a function of lead times. The demand is absolutely there. And just to sort of illustrate that, Marc gave an early indication of what we think our guidance is for the year, as just an early directional indication.

Gary Smith: Okay. I think it is almost entirely just driven by a function of lead times. The demand is absolutely there. Just to just sort of illustrate that, Marc gave an early indication of what we think our guidance is, for the year, as just an early directional indication for next year. It would be greater than that if supply was greater. That sort of, I think summarizes it. We have we think at least a $10 billion backlog as we leave this year. In the midpoint of what Marc was talking about, you are looking at revenues of $8.3 billion, $8.4 billion as a sort of baseline for us for next year. It would be greater than that if we had more supply. So, the demand is absolutely there. You look at our installation services, they are up 35% for the year.

Speaker #6: For next year, it would be greater than that if supply was greater. I mean, that sort of, I think, summarizes it. We think we've got at least a $10 billion backlog as we leave this year.

Speaker #6: And in the midpoint of what Mark was talking about, you're looking at revenues of $8.3, $8.4 billion as sort of a baseline for us for next year.

Speaker #6: It would be greater than that if we had more supply, and so the demand is absolutely there. You look at our installation services—they're up 35% for the year.

Speaker #6: And as soon as we can ship it, it's installed and carrying traffic.

Gary Smith: As soon as we can ship it is installed and carrying traffic.

Speaker #4: Yeah. Hey, Tal, maybe I'll just add a little bit more context here. If you look all the way back to 2024, our orders—call that demand—doubled from '24 to '25.

Marc Graff: Yeah. Hey, Tal, maybe I will just add a little bit more context here. If you look all the way back to 2024, our orders, call that demand, doubled from 2024 to 2025. From 2025 to 2026, we are expecting another 50% increase. As you rightly noted, backlog is doubling across all three of those years. From 2024 to 2025 was a double, from 2025 to 2026 is a double. What we are really constrained with is the industry needs to add a significant amount of capacity to keep up with that demand. We think it is going to be a multi-year journey before we see that supply and demand get back into balance. Multi-year, so we do not see that happening before 2028 at all. I think you will see a very similar constrained dynamic going into 2027 and likely into 2028.

Speaker #4: From '25 to '26, we're expecting another 50% increase. And as you rightly noted, backlog is doubling across all three of those years—from '24 to '25 was a double, and from '25 to '26 is a double.

Speaker #4: And so, what we're really constrained with is that the industry needs to add a significant amount of capacity to keep up with that demand. We think it's going to be a multi-year journey before we see supply and demand get back into balance.

Speaker #4: And multi-year, so we don't see that happening before '28 at all. And so I think you'll see a very similar constrained dynamic going into '27 and likely into '28.

Speaker #5: Got it. And if I can just ask a follow-up—any color on customer composition? I understand the large hyperscalers, but what about smaller hyperscalers? I mean new clouds and new hyperscalers like Oracle?

Tal Liani: Got it. If I can just ask a follow-up, any color on customer composition, meaning hyperscalers, I understand. What about smaller hyperscalers? Meaning, neoclouds and new hyperscalers like Oracle. Without names of customers, but can you discuss your ability to grow the customer list over time, and where is the demand?

Speaker #5: So, without naming customers, can you discuss your ability to grow the customer list over time, and where is the demand coming from?

Gary Smith: Want to take them on that, Tal? Yeah. About 50% of our business is now hyperscalers directly. But increasingly, I think to your point, we are seeing this sort of neoscalers, umbrella of neoscalers, which covers a multitude of different business models, et cetera. We are very focused on that space. They are leaning very much into networking now. They are securing networks on MOFN deals. They are beginning to put their own fiber in when they can get it, and we are taking more than our fair share of that market as it grows. So we are very focused on addressing that market, both in the US and globally. We are seeing that in certain parts of the world where these neoscalers are investing in the networking. I think as we go through 2027 and 2028, that will become an increasingly important part of our business.

Speaker #6: I'm sorry.

Speaker #5: That's okay.

Speaker #6: Yeah. About 50% of our business is now directly with hyperscalers. But increasingly, I think to your point, we're seeing this sort of umbrella of neoscalers, which covers a multitude of different business models, etc.

Speaker #6: We are very focused on that space. They are leaning very much into networking now, and they are securing networks on MOFN deals. They're beginning to put their own fiber in when they can get it.

Speaker #6: And we are taking more than our fair share of that market as it grows. So we are very focused on addressing that market, both in the US and globally.

Speaker #6: We're seeing that in certain parts of the world where these neoscalers are investing in the networking. So I think as we go through '27 and '28, that will become an increasingly important part of our business.

Speaker #5: Got it. Thank you.

Tal Liani: Got it. Thank you.

Speaker #6: Thanks, Tall.

Gary Smith: Thanks, Tal.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Meta Marshall with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Meta Marshall with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Great. Thanks. A couple of questions. Maybe just following up on George's question. Just in terms of some of these new arrangements that you guys are having with or discussions that you're having with customers, is some of those are some of those pricing adjustments dependent on timeline of delivery?

Meta Marshall: Great. Thanks. A couple of questions. Maybe just following up on George Notter's question, just in terms of some of these new arrangements that you guys are having with, or discussions that you're having with customers. Are some of those pricing adjustments dependent on timeline of delivery? In terms of, if you can deliver 6 months earlier, you can capture high single digits versus a mid-single digit price adjustment. Just trying to get a sense of whether there's any kind of escalators in there. Then second question, just as you guys look to assure more supply, have you qualified additional suppliers at this point, or is this largely reaching long-term agreements with existing suppliers? Thanks.

Speaker #2: In terms of if you can deliver six months earlier, you can capture high single digits versus a mid-single-digit price adjustment. Just trying to get a sense of whether there are any kind of escalators in there.

Speaker #2: And then, second question: just as you guys look to assure more supply, have you qualified additional suppliers at this point, or is this largely reaching long-term agreements with existing suppliers?

Speaker #2: Thanks.

Speaker #4: Yeah, thanks, Meta. It's Mark. So, on your first question in terms of escalators, we really haven't built those in. The price increases that we've talked about aren't necessarily performance-based, per se.

Marc Graff: Yeah. Thanks, Meta. It's Marc Graff. So on your first question in terms of escalators, we really haven't built those in. The price increases that we've talked about aren't necessarily performance-based per se. They will cut in as more and more backlog from those orders becomes a bigger part of our revenue. I wouldn't say that it's performance related. Once we agree to those price increases, it's really around when we deliver it, they'll pay for it.

Speaker #4: They will cut in as more and more backlog from those orders becomes a bigger part of our revenue. So, I wouldn’t say that it’s performance-related.

Speaker #4: Once we agreed to those price increases, it's really about when we deliver it—they'll pay for it. In terms of qualifying new suppliers, yes, that is part of our supply resiliency strategy that we're driving.

Scott McFeely: In terms of qualifying new suppliers, yes, that is part of our supply resiliency strategy that we are driving. We have got our typical providers that are in the stable that you know of very well, but we are looking at expanding both the numbers of suppliers that we have, as well as we are constantly looking at new technologies to satisfy the same type of functionality. So we are taking both a quantity as well as a technology perspective to our supply chain.

Marc Graff: In terms of qualifying new suppliers, yes, that is part of our supply resiliency strategy that we are driving. We have got our typical providers that are in the stable that you know of very well, but we are looking at expanding both the numbers of suppliers that we have, as well as we are constantly looking at new technologies to satisfy the same type of functionality. So we are taking both a quantity as well as a technology perspective to our supply chain.

Speaker #4: We've got our typical providers that are in the stable, that you know of very well, but we are looking at expanding both the types and the numbers of suppliers that we have, as well as we're constantly looking at new technologies to satisfy the same type of functionality.

Speaker #4: So we're taking both a quantity, as well as a technology, perspective to our supply chain.

Speaker #2: Great. Thanks.

Meta Marshall: Great. Thanks.

Speaker #5: Thank you.

Scott McFeely: Thank you.

Marc Graff: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Cardoso with JP Morgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Cardoso with JPMorgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Joseph Cardoso: Hi, good morning, and I will share my congrats as well on the results and guidance here, and thanks for the question. Maybe another backlog question and more on the composition of it. As we think about the portfolio offerings that you guys have and maybe the raw irons in the fire that you guys are trying to address, where are you seeing this strong demand inflection as we are entering the back half of the fiscal year? As a second part to that, it is great to hear that you are seeing visibility now into 2028, but any color you can provide on the weighting of orders coming in for 2027 versus 2028? Essentially just trying to get a better understanding of how much of 2027 is already covered versus what is building for 2028 now. Then I have a follow-up. Thank you.

Speaker #7: Hi, good morning, and I'll share my congrats as well on the results and guidance here. And thanks for the question. Maybe another backlog question.

Speaker #7: And more on the composition of it—as we think about the portfolio offerings that you guys have, and maybe the irons in the fire that you guys are trying to address—where are you seeing this strong demand inflection as we’re entering the back half of the fiscal year?

Speaker #7: And as a second part to that, it's great to hear that you're seeing visibility now into '28, but any color you can provide on the weighting of orders coming in for '27 versus '28? Essentially, just trying to get a better understanding of how much of '27 is already covered versus what is building for '28 now.

Speaker #7: And then I have a follow-up. Thank you.

Speaker #6: So, the first part of that question, Joe—thank you—is really, we're seeing broad demand across the portfolio, and you'd say it's characterized as being line systems, both in terms of the existing RLS and HyperRail.

Gary Smith: The first part of that question, Joe, thank you, is really we are seeing broad demand across the portfolio and you would say, characterized as being line systems, both in terms of the existing RLS and Hyper-Rail. We have got a number of new wins for Hyper-Rail that we will begin to ramp up during 2027. There is a lot of infrastructure going in for that. Think scale across, not entirely, but predominantly, the deployments for that is driving it. On the modem side, we shared some of the statistics that you are seeing for WaveLogic 6. We doubled output. It is already, at this point, exceeding 5e in terms of its adoption. I think that again, just talks to the need for high speed, distance for these kinds of applications. We are seeing it on the modem side, and of course, we are seeing it on the infrastructure of line systems.

Speaker #6: We've got a number of new wins for HyperRail that we'll begin to ramp up during 2027, so there's a lot of infrastructure going in for that.

Speaker #6: I mean, and think scale across not entirely, but predominantly the deployments for that—that's driving it. And then on the modem side, we shared some of the statistics that you're seeing for WaveLogic 6.

Speaker #6: We doubled output. It's already, at this point, exceeding 5 exabytes in terms of its adoption. And I think that, again, just speaks to the need for high-speed distance for these kinds of applications.

Speaker #6: So we're seeing it on the modem side, and of course, we're seeing it on the infrastructure of line systems. We're also seeing that both in terms of MOFN deals globally as well, to support this expansion, particularly in markets like India and the Middle East.

Gary Smith: We are seeing it on the modem side, and of course, we are seeing it on the infrastructure of line systems. We are also seeing that both in terms of MOFN deals globally as well to support this expansion, particularly markets like India and the Middle East, and certain parts of Asia where the hyperscalers are leaning into provisioning of extension of their networks. Submarine as well, massive build-outs going on across the global submarine market where we have number one market share in the world. So, we are seeing that across it, Joe. In terms of the profile of the backlog, we have got, as you said, we will probably have about $10 billion plus backlog as we go into 2027. We cannot satisfy basically all of the requirements that they would take to deliver all of that in 2027.

Gary Smith: We are also seeing that both in terms of MOFN deals globally as well to support this expansion, particularly markets like India and the Middle East, and certain parts of Asia where the hyperscalers are leaning into provisioning of extension of their networks. Submarine as well, massive build-outs going on across the global submarine market where we have number one market share in the world. So, we are seeing that across it, Joe. In terms of the profile of the backlog, we have got, as you said, we will probably have about $10 billion plus backlog as we go into 2027. We cannot satisfy basically all of the requirements that they would take to deliver all of that in 2027.

Speaker #6: And certain parts of Asia where the hyperscalers are leaning into the provisioning and extension of their networks. Submarine as well—massive build-outs are going on across the global submarine market, where we have the number one market share in the world.

Speaker #6: So we're seeing that we're seeing that across it, Joe. And in terms of the profile of the backlog, we've got as you said, we'll probably have about 10 billion plus backlog as we go into 2027.

Speaker #6: We cannot satisfy, basically, all of the requirements that they would need to deliver all of that in ’27.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Joseph, the vast majority of that $10 billion comes with the customer request date. That's actually in '27, meaning that they would take it if we could give it to them.

Scott McFeely: Joseph, the vast majority of that $10 billion comes with a customer request date that is actually in 2027, meaning that they would take it if we could give it to them. To your question, the backlog covers most of the 2027 guide.

Speaker #5: So, it’s you. It’s your question. The backlog covers most of the ’27 guide.

Joseph Cardoso: No, got it.

Speaker #7: Got it. That's exactly what I was getting at with that. Thanks for clarifying.

Scott McFeely: Thanks, Joe.

Marc Graff: Thanks, Joe.

Joseph Cardoso: That's exactly what I was getting at with that. Thanks for the color there.

Speaker #6: Thanks, Joe.

Gary Smith: Thanks, Joe.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Ruben Roy with Stifel. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ruben Roy with Stifel. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #8: Yes, thank you. Gary, for the first question, I wanted to maybe drill into the performance optics discussion and the sort of the consumption model, compared to the systems model.

Ruben Roy: Yes. Thank you. Gary, for the first question, I wanted to maybe drill into the performance optics discussion and the consumption model that compared to the systems model. Is that a bespoke arrangement with one customer, or are you productizing this consumption model as you go forward? I guess, as you think about that longer term, and how that sits in the interconnect family, if you could talk a little bit about the margin structure as that consumption model starts to build. Thank you.

Speaker #8: Can you—is that a bespoke arrangement with one customer, or are you productizing this consumption model as you go forward? And I guess as you think about that longer term, and how that sits in the interconnect family, if you could talk a little bit about the margin structure as that consumption model starts to build.

Speaker #8: Thank you.

Speaker #5: 30 minutes. It's got so first of all, kind of ask the question from two different angles around how I heard it anyway. So first of all, the performance modem portfolio, the extreme family, if you like, WaveLogic 5 and then WaveLogic 6 is obviously a very broadly deployed solution within our systems business.

Scott McFeely: Ruben, it's Scott. First of all, going to ask the question from two different angles, or that's how I heard it anyways. First of all, the performance modem portfolio, the Extreme family, if you like, WaveLogic 5, and then WaveLogic 6, is obviously a very broadly deployed solution within our systems business. You have a lot of deployments out there on Extreme modems. The specific opportunity you're referring to, though, of taking that and offering it up in a different consumption model is bespoke relationships with individual customers. We have two examples of that today. One that was a recent announcement, last quarter. It's certainly something that we don't shy away from. We made the technology available, and however our customers want to consume it. But in those examples, those are very unique in terms of how those customers want to deploy them.

Speaker #5: So, we have a lot of deployments out there on Extreme modems. This specific opportunity you're referring to, though, of taking that and offering it up in a different consumption model, is bespoke relationships with individual customers.

Speaker #5: We have two examples of that today. One was a recent announcement last quarter. It's certainly something that we don't shy away from. We've made the technology available however our customers want to consume it.

Speaker #5: But in most examples, those are very unique in terms of how those customers want to deploy them, so they're kind of custom development for them.

Scott McFeely: They're custom development for them. The relationship we have with those customers reflects that.

Speaker #5: And the relationship we have with those customers reflects that.

Speaker #8: Okay, thank you, Scott. And then as a quick follow-up for Mark—sorry if I missed this, Mark—but with the 25% to 27% operating margin guidance for ’27, or first look at ’27, that implies, I think, roughly flat to maybe up a little bit, operating expenses.

Ruben Roy: Okay. Thank you, Scott. As a quick follow-up for Marc, sorry if I missed this, Marc, but with the 25% to 27% operating margin guidance for 2027, or first look at 2027, that implies, I think, roughly flat to maybe up a little bit operating expenses. If you could just walk us through, sort of the mechanics around operating expense, as you look out into fiscal 2027, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Ruben Roy: to maybe up a little bit operating expenses. If you could just walk us through, sort of the mechanics around operating expense, as you look out into fiscal 2027, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Speaker #8: If you could just walk us through the mechanics around operating expenses as you look out into fiscal '27, that would be helpful.

Speaker #8: Thank you.

Speaker #4: Yeah, no problem, Joe. We haven't really closed in yet. We're kind of in the middle of our annual planning process. But the puts and takes that you should kind of be thinking about is, this year, we'll spend roughly, call it, $1.6 billion. Keep in mind that $1.6 billion includes a bunch of one-time variable compensation.

Marc Graff: Yeah. No problem, Joe. We haven't really closed in yet. We're kind of in the middle of our annual planning process. But the puts and takes that you should be thinking about is, this year we will spend roughly, call it, $1.6 billion. Keep in mind that $1.6 billion includes a bunch of one-time variable compensation that a year ago we were telling you it was going to be about $1.5 billion. We're at $1.6 billion mostly because of that variable comp. We are going to reinvest that one time, so that is when you say it is about flat. All the folks sitting around the table here are looking at $100 million more of investment that they get, regardless of the performance of the company. So we are reinvesting those one-time things.

Speaker #4: A year ago, we were telling you it was going to be about $1.5 billion. We're at $1.6 billion, mostly because of that variable comp.

Speaker #4: We're going to reinvest that one time. So that's when you say it's about flat. All the folks sitting around the table here are looking at $100 million more of investment that they get regardless of the performance of the company.

Speaker #4: So we are reinvesting those one-time things. And I think you'll also see there will be a little bit more investment in some of the activities, particularly around line systems, that we continue to grow.

Marc Graff: I think you will also see there will be a little bit more investment in some of the activities, particularly around line systems as we continue to grow that business and invest in our interconnect portfolio.

Speaker #4: That business, and invest in our interconnect portfolio.

Speaker #8: Great. Thank you, Mark.

Ruben Roy: Great. Thank you, Marc.

Speaker #4: Yep. You bet, Joe.

Marc Graff: Yep. You bet, Joe.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Ryan Koontz with Needham & Co. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ryan Koontz with Needham & Company. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #7: Great. Good morning. Thanks for the question. In light of some of the politics around data center construction and the like, which I know weighs on investors' minds a lot and whips a lot of the broader sector around, how do you feel about the pace of catch-up of your WAN projects relative to data center construction?

Ryan Koontz: Great. Good morning. Thanks for the question. In light of some of the politics around data center construction and the like, which I know weighs on investor minds a lot and whips a lot of the broader sector around, how do you feel about the pace of catch-up of your WAN projects relative to data center construction? Do you feel like you have visibility independent of pacing of data centers in that light? Maybe you can comment on that, Gary.

Speaker #7: Do you feel like you've got visibility, independent of the pacing of data centers, in that light? Maybe you can comment on that, Gary.

Speaker #6: Yeah. No, listen, it's a great topical question. I would say that as we talk to the hyperscalers and we talk about durability of demand and their long-term view and the rest of it, and getting long-term agreements with them and commitments—so part of that, one of the comments that was made to me was basically that if they stopped building data centers tomorrow, Gary, you probably wouldn't notice for two years.

Gary Smith: Yeah. No, listen, it's a great topical question. I would say that, as we talk to the hyperscalers and we talk about durability of demand and their long-term view and the rest of it, and getting long-term agreements with them and commitments. Part of that, one of the comments that was made to me was basically that, "If they stopped building data centers tomorrow, Gary, you probably wouldn't notice for 2 years.

Ryan Koontz: Yeah.

Speaker #6: Meaning, they've already got these data centers out there, and they need connectivity. They're not going to strand the assets. Secondly, they've got data centers where they must increase the network capacity.

Gary Smith: Meaning they've already got these data centers out there and they need connectivity, and they're not going to strand the assets. Secondly, they've got data centers that they must increase the network capacity to. Largely what we've got in backlog here and what we've got visibility to going forward is really the data centers that are already there. Particularly, you've got a lot of international expansion as well, and it's really the refresh of the GPUs in these data centers that are already there that require massive amounts of additional connectivity. Bear in mind, we have a unique insight into this because we've got number one market share in data center connectivity before all of this AI expansion began. So we have got the connection to most of the data centers around the world.

Speaker #6: And so, largely, what we've got in backlog here and what we've got visibility to going forward is really the data centers that are already there.

Speaker #6: And particularly, you've got a lot of international expansion as well. It's really the refresh of the GPUs in these data centers that are already there that requires massive amounts of additional connectivity.

Speaker #6: And bear in mind, we have a unique insight into this because we've got, number one, market share in data center connectivity, before all of this AI expansion began.

Speaker #6: So, we have got the connection to most of the data centers around the world. A lot of what we're seeing is the expansion and increase of that capacity and connectivity to enable the refreshing of the GPUs, etc.

Gary Smith: A lot of what we're seeing is the expansion and increasing of that capacity and connectivity to enable the refreshing of the GPUs, et cetera. You've also got all of the inference and agentic stuff in front of us. So Ryan, certainly for the next couple of years, we think we're largely immune from what may or may not happen with the pacing of new data centers.

Speaker #6: And you've also got all of the inference and agentic stuff in front of us. So, Ryan, certainly for the next couple of years, we think we're largely immune from what may or may not happen with the pacing of new data centers.

Ryan Koontz: That's great. Thank you for that. Maybe as a follow-up, any commentary on the product mix here, as you've seen in the most recent quarter or maybe recent bookings in terms of shift of line systems versus pluggables and transponders? Any commentary there?

Speaker #7: That's great, thank you for that. And maybe as a follow-up—any commentary on the product mix here? As you've seen in the most recent quarter, or maybe recent bookings, in terms of shifts of line systems versus pluggables and transponders—any commentary there?

Speaker #4: Yeah, maybe I'll jump in and others can add color, Ryan. So, as I think through what we've seen, particularly over the last 12 months, I think we've seen our plugs and our line systems, particularly RLS, really grow at much higher than corporate average growth rates, right?

Marc Graff: Yeah. Maybe I will jump in and others can add color, Ryan. As I think through what we have seen, particularly over the last 12 months, I think we have seen our plugs and our line systems, particularly RLS, really grow at much higher than corporate average growth rates. I think I mentioned plugs and RLS together as part of our optical piece growing 45%. So you kind of see how that is becoming a bigger piece of the pie. One of the things that, from a margin perspective that we are seeing is as our DCOM solution really starts to increase over the last year, that is really driven a pretty accretive dynamic for us moving forward. We expect that to continue, and then obviously as we add RLS Hyper-Rail, that is going to be another accretive motion for us.

Speaker #4: I think I mentioned plugs and RLS together as part of our optical piece growing 45%. So you can kind of see how that's becoming a bigger piece of the pie.

Speaker #4: One of the things that, from a margin perspective, we're seeing is that as our decomp solution has really started to increase over the last year, that's really driven a pretty accretive dynamic for us moving forward.

Speaker #4: We expect that to continue. And then, obviously, as we add HyperRail, that's going to be another accretive motion for us. And so, I think what you're seeing is the optical piece of our portfolio really driving a bunch of the growth for the company.

Marc Graff: And so I think what you are seeing is the optical piece of our portfolio really driving a bunch of the growth for the company. And then obviously we have got the DCOM piece, which is shown in route switch really in the early part of its ramp as well.

Speaker #4: And then, obviously, we've got the decomp piece, which is shown in route and switch, really in the early part of its ramp as well.

Speaker #6: I think Ryan made

Scott McFeely: I think, Ryan, the dynamic that has been going on since 2024, we are just seeing more and more demand for line systems, meaning more fibers are getting lit. And those are getting lit with coherent optics of all flavors, whether it be plugs or performance optics consumed in Waveserver. And all those, to Marc's point, are up well north of the 35% or 37% that we are reporting as a corporate average. And that is going to continue, we think, going into the foreseeable future. The DCOM piece is a great adder, but it is a bit lumpy because of the concentration of the customers. So from quarter to quarter, DCOM will come and go, but it is-

Speaker #3: That's a dynamic that's been going on since 2024. We're just seeing more and more demand for line systems—meaning more fibers are getting lit. And those are getting lit with coherent optics of all flavors, whether it be plugs or performance optics consumed in WaveServer.

Speaker #3: And all those, to Mark's point, are up well north of the 35 or 37 percent that we're reporting as a corporate average. And that's going to continue, we think, going into the foreseeable future.

Speaker #3: The decomp piece is a great adder, but it's a bit lumpy because of the concentration of the customers. So, from quarter to quarter, decomp will come and go.

Speaker #3: But it's a new add for us.

Marc Graff: It is a net new add for us.

Speaker #7: That's great. Thanks so much.

Ryan Koontz: That's great. Thanks so much.

Speaker #4: Thanks, Ryan.

Marc Graff: Thanks, Ryan.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Tim Long with Barclays. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tim Long with Barclays. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Thank you, appreciate it. Two for me as well. Maybe first, if we could dig a little deeper into HyperRail—you mentioned it a few times here on the value-add side and ramp.

Tim Long: Thank you. Appreciate it. Two for me as well. Maybe first, if we could dig a little deeper into Hyper-Rail. You mentioned it a few times here on the value add side and ramp. Just to update us on, it sounds like a few customers, but where are we in the demand profile and how quickly could we see the ramp of this product? Just to remind us on the economics versus more the RLS prior generation. The follow-up would be on just the pure telco business, maybe ex-MOFN. If you could just talk a little bit about the durability of that business. In the past, that's been a little bit more cyclical, so just curious of the outlook on just the pure telco piece. Thanks.

Speaker #5: Just kind of update us on—it sounds like a few customers—but where are we in the demand profile, and how quickly could we see the ramp of this product? Could you also just remind us on the economics versus, more, the RLS prior generation?

Speaker #5: And then the follow-up would be on just the pure telco business—maybe Exmotion—if you could just talk a little bit about the durability of that business. In the past, that's been a little bit more cyclical.

Speaker #5: So, just curious about the outlook on just the pure telco piece. Thanks.

Speaker #4: Yeah, I'll start on Hyperrail, Tim, and then others can jump in. We're on track for getting that product to standardization by the end of this calendar year.

Marc Graff: Yeah. I'll start on HyperRail, Tim, and then others can jump in. We're on track for getting that product to standardization by the end of this calendar year, and you'll see the ramp starting in 2027. That ramp in 2027 will be to several hundred million USD. So we're looking at that as a pretty meaningful ramp for us. The backstory on that is it probably could be faster if we could get more components. Obviously, we're working day and night on that. From an economics perspective, relative to RLS, I think the team's done a fantastic job of improving the margins over the last four to eight quarters on RLS to get us to a pretty decent margin profile. HyperRail will be a step function on top of that.

Speaker #4: And you'll see the ramp starting in '27. That ramp in '27 will be to several hundred million dollars, right? So we're looking at that as a pretty meaningful ramp for us.

Speaker #4: The backstory on that is it probably could be faster if we could get more components, right? So, obviously, we're working day and night on that.

Speaker #4: From an economics perspective, relative to RLS, I think the team's done a fantastic job of improving the margins over the last four to eight quarters on RLS to get us to a pretty decent margin profile.

Speaker #4: Hyperrail will be a step function on top of that. And with the size of the ramp and the opportunity that we think is coming through with Hyperrail, and the economics of that, it's going to be accretive to the company as a whole once we get into '27, '28, '29.

Marc Graff: With the size of the ramp and the opportunity that we think that is coming through with HyperRail and the economics of that, it's going to be accretive to the company as a whole once we get into 2027, 2028, 2029. So we're really looking forward to getting HyperRail out there, and I think our customers are placing quite a few orders that's represented in that $10 billion of backlog that we expect at the end of the year.

Speaker #4: So we're really looking forward to getting HyperRail out there, and I think our customers are placing quite a few orders. That's represented in that $10 billion of backlog that we expect at the end of the year.

Gary Smith: On service provider growth, it's actually quite difficult to separate it from a lot of the MOFN activity that's going on. We know the MOFN activity is high. I'd say there's two things going on with the service provider piece. One, it is growing anyway, because I think there's been under-investment in optical infrastructure in the last five years. You've got the service providers returning to drive out infrastructure for optical infrastructure, and you've also got this MOFN piece. You're seeing that phenomenon now, certainly in North America. If you go back about 18 months, it was very much an international phenomenon. Now with training and the rest of it, we're seeing that very much so in North America. That is driving a lot of the, particularly the wholesale market in the US and the wholesale carriers that specialize in that.

Speaker #6: And on service provider growth, it's actually quite difficult to separate it from a lot of the MoFin activity that's going on, and we know the MoFin activity is high.

Speaker #6: But I'd say there's two things going on with the service provider piece. One, it is growing anyway because I think there's been underinvestment in optical infrastructure in the last five years.

Speaker #6: And you've got the service providers returning to drive out infrastructure for optical infrastructure. And you've also got this MoFin piece. And you're seeing that phenomenon now, certainly in North America.

Speaker #6: If you go back about 18 months, it was very much an international phenomenon. But now, with training and the rest of it, we're seeing that very much so in North America.

Speaker #6: And that is driving a lot of, particularly, the wholesale market in the US and the wholesale carriers that specialize in that. We're seeing very strong growth in that space.

Gary Smith: We're seeing very strong growth in that space, and we expect that to continue. Markets like India, particularly for MOFN, we're seeing explosive growth in provisioning of MOFN networks for multiple hyperscalers in places like India. Japan, I would also highlight, and then certain parts of the Middle East. So, we expect to see good, steady service provider growth continue over the next few years, irrespective of the MOFN phenomenon.

Speaker #6: And we expect that to continue. Markets like India, particularly for MoFin, we're seeing explosive growth in the provisioning of MoFin networks for multiple hyper-rainers in places like India. Japan, I would also highlight.

Speaker #6: And then certain parts of the Middle East. So, we expect to see good, steady service provider growth continue over the next few years, irrespective of the MoFin.

Speaker #6: Phenomenon.

Speaker #5: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Tim Long: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Tim Long: Thank you very much.

Marc Graff: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Simon Leopold with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Simon Leopold with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Hey, thanks, guys. Jeff Cochin for Simon. Really wanted to ask my first question on the software business. It doesn't really appear like the web-scale RLS deployments are a driver here.

Jeff Kocien: Yeah. Hey, thanks, guys. Jeff Kocien for Simon. I really wanted to ask, first question on the software business. It does not really appear like the web scale RLS deployments are a driver here. Is that the right interpretation? Is that because they have their own solutions into that? How do you win the RLS deals if it is not a management platform type play? Thank you. I have a follow-up.

Jeff Koche: Yeah. Hey, thanks, guys. Jeff Kocien for Simon. I really wanted to ask, first question on the software business. It does not really appear like the web scale RLS deployments are a driver here. Is that the right interpretation? Is that because they have their own solutions into that? How do you win the RLS deals if it is not a management platform type play? Thank you. I have a follow-up.

Speaker #5: Is that kind of the right interpretation? Is that because they have their own solutions? And to that end, how do you win the RLS deals if it's not your management platform-type play?

Speaker #5: Thank you. I have a follow-up question.

Speaker #3: Yeah, Jeff, Scott here. Yeah, can you hear us back? We can hear you.

Scott McFeely: Yeah, Jeff, Scott here.

Jeff Kocien: Can you hear me?

Jeff Koche: Can you hear me?

Marc Graff: Yeah, can you hear us back? We can hear you.

Speaker #5: Yes. Thanks.

Jeff Kocien: Yes. Thanks.

Jeff Koche: Yes. Thanks.

Speaker #3: Okay. Yeah. I mean, your hypothesis that there are fewer off-box software components in a web-scale deal in general, not just an AI deal, is valid.

Scott McFeely: Okay. Your hypothesis that there is less off-box software components in a web scale deal in general, not just an AI deal, is valid. That is a fair statement. However, having said that, to your second question, don't take that comment to mean that the only thing these guys are buying is merchant hardware from us, because the value that they get is much broader than that. And whether it is submarine networks, their existing backbone, their DCI networks or their scale across networks, the statement is true across the piece. They are getting, yes, a hardware platform, but some very sophisticated on box software capabilities that is embedded into their back office system that has an awful lot of intelligence in it, protection mechanisms, et cetera, to allow them to deliver to their SLA. They are getting planning tools and deployment tools. They are getting link engineering tools.

Speaker #3: That's a fair statement. However, having said that, to your second question, don't take that comment to mean that the only thing these guys are buying is merchant hardware from us, because the value that they get is much broader than that.

Speaker #3: And whether it's submarine networks, their existing backbone, their DCI networks, or their scale across networks, that statement is true across the piece. They're getting, yes, a hardware platform, but some very sophisticated on-box software capabilities that are embedded into their back office system, that has an awful lot of intelligence in it—protection mechanisms, etc.

Speaker #3: to allow them to deliver to their SLAs. They're getting planning tools and deployment tools. They're getting link engineering tools. They're getting a global, across-the-world service capability to turn these things on, pre-position them, pre-configure them, and turn them on.

Marc Graff: They are getting a global across the world service capability to turn these things on.

Scott McFeely: They are getting a global across the world service capability to turn these things on. Pre-position them, pre-configure them, and turn them on. A set of skills that we have developed with them and their relationships for more than a decade now. So just because we are not selling as much off-box software components to service providers, do not conclude therefore it is just a commodity hardware sale. It is far from that.

Scott McFeely: Pre-position them, pre-configure them, and turn them on. A set of skills that we have developed with them and their relationships for more than a decade now. So just because we are not selling as much off-box software components to service providers, do not conclude therefore it is just a commodity hardware sale. It is far from that.

Speaker #3: A set of skills that we've developed with them in their relationships for more than a decade now. So, just because we're not selling as much off-box software components to service providers, don't conclude, therefore, it's just a commodity hardware sale.

Speaker #3: It's far from that.

Speaker #5: Great. Great answer. So, maybe just with that in mind, can you give a little bit of color on how the gross margins are for that business, and maybe how they're changing—even just relative to the average?

Jeff Kocien: Great answer. So maybe just with that in mind, can you maybe give a little bit of color on how the gross margins are for that business and maybe how they are changing, maybe even just relative to the average?

Jeff Koche: Great answer. So maybe just with that in mind, can you maybe give a little bit of color on how the gross margins are for that business and maybe how they are changing, maybe even just relative to the average?

Marc Graff: You are talking about the software, the off-box software?

Speaker #4: You're talking about the software? The off-box software?

Jeff Kocien: No.

Jeff Koche: No.

Speaker #5: No, the RLS. Sorry—for the line systems. For the line systems.

Marc Graff: No, the RLS.

Jeff Kocien: Sorry. For the line systems.

Jeff Koche: Sorry. For the line systems.

Speaker #4: Yeah. So, as I said previously with Tim, improvements in the RLS gross margins over the last two to three years, and I expect that to continue. Those are approaching what I would call the corporate average.

Marc Graff: Yeah. As I said previously with Tim, we have seen really good improvements in the RLS gross margins over the last two, three years. I expect that to continue, and those are approaching what I would call the corporate average. As we move into the next generation, RLS Hyper-Rail, the economics get significantly better, right? Those will be above the current corporate average, and I would expect, with the size of opportunity that we have with RLS Hyper-Rail over the next couple of years, that that will be accretive.

Speaker #4: As we move into the next-generation hyperrail, the economics get significantly better, right? And so those will be above the current corporate average. I would expect, with the size of opportunity that we have with hyperrail over the next couple of years, that will be accretive.

Jeff Kocien: Terrific. If I could just do another follow-up on the interconnect business, and really just inside the data center. We hear that Google is looking to deploy 2.4 terabit coherent light solution for its GPUs. Maybe talk about, are you in those deals? Are you being evaluated? What is your take there, and what is your take on optical circuit switching? Is that a product that Ciena would explore? Thank you.

Jeff Koche: Terrific. If I could just do another follow-up on the interconnect business, and really just inside the data center. We hear that Google is looking to deploy 2.4 terabit coherent light solution for its GPUs. Maybe talk about, are you in those deals? Are you being evaluated? What is your take there, and what is your take on optical circuit switching? Is that a product that Ciena would explore? Thank you.

Speaker #5: Terrific, terrific. And then if I could just do another follow-up—on the interconnect business, and really just inside the data center—we know that Google’s, we hear that Google’s, looking to deploy a 2.4-terabit coherent light solution for CPUs.

Speaker #5: Maybe talk about, are you in those deals? Are you being evaluated? What's your take there? And what's your take on optical circuit switching? Is that a product that Ciena would explore?

Speaker #5: Thank you.

Speaker #3: Yeah, so a couple of things. There are a couple of questions there. The coherent moving inside the data center—we've said for a long time now that we think that's a trend that is inevitable and it's going to happen.

Scott McFeely: Yeah. So a couple of things. There's a couple of questions there. The coherent moving inside the data center, we said for a long time now that we think that's a trend that is inevitable, and it's going to happen, and we're committed to that. We absolutely believe in the coherent light market. We think the right intercept for that for the general market is at 3.2 terabits. And we think we'll be in great position to be a leader in that market. In terms of OCS, we love OCSs because it is part of the continuation of more optics inside the data center. And it will drive, actually, the adoption of coherent inside that data center faster than without OCSs, in our belief system. So that's all good news.

Speaker #3: And we're committed to that. We absolutely believe in the coherent light market. We think the right intercept for that for the general market is at 3.2 terabits.

Speaker #3: And we think we'll be in a great position to be a leader in that market. In terms of OCS, we love OCSs because it is part of the continuation of more optics inside the data center.

Speaker #3: And it will actually drive the adoption of coherent inside that data center faster than without OCSs, in our belief system. So that's all good news.

Speaker #3: That's a separate answer for whether or not we're going to jump into the OCS market ourselves. And we're not going to comment on plans, make any product announcements, or anything like that on the call today.

Scott McFeely: That's a separate answer to whether or not we're going to jump into the OCS market ourselves, and we're not going to comment on plans, make any product announcements or that on the call today, so.

Speaker #4: We're going to move on to one last question.

Gregg Lampf: We're going to move on to one last question.

Speaker #1: Your last question comes from the line of Tim Savago with Northland Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your last question comes from the line of Tim Savageaux with Northland Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #3: Hey, good morning, and congrats on the results—and especially the guide. That's kind of the focus of my question, which is, along several lines, the case for accelerating revenue growth in fiscal '27 looks particularly strong.

Tim Savageaux: Hey, good morning, and congrats on the results and especially the guide. That is kind of the focus of my question, which is along several lines. The case for accelerating revenue growth in fiscal 2027 looks particularly strong, whether we are talking about anecdotal commentaries, backlog, RLS Hyper-Rail, scale across, which will be my focus on my follow-up. I know you sort of termed this as an initial guide, but I would be interested in your commentary on the prospects for delivering accelerating revenue growth in fiscal 2027. I know you mentioned supply as a constraint, and maybe what things might look like if that constraint were relaxed a bit.

Speaker #3: Whether we're talking about anecdotal commentaries, backlog, Hyperrail, scale—which will be my focus in my follow-up—and I know you sort of termed this as an initial guide, but I'd be interested in your commentary on the prospects for delivering accelerating revenue growth in fiscal '27.

Speaker #3: I know you mentioned supply as a constraint, and maybe what things might look like if that constraint were relaxed a bit.

Speaker #4: Yeah. Hey Tim, it's Mark. I think you kind of answered your own question. As we look at it—and you're right—we are early, right?

Marc Graff: Yeah. Hey, Tim. It is Marc. I think you kind of answered your own question. As we look at it, and you are right, we are early, right? Typically we would not do this. But as we look at the demand or the dynamics that we are seeing in the market, we thought it was prudent to give our owners and the investment community at least some initial thoughts on what we think the floor will be going into 2027. But as you rightly pointed out, all of our focus right now is on how do we get more supply to get more of that demand. As Gary Smith said, and Scott McFeely said as well, if we could get more demand, we would unwind that $10 billion of backlog faster, right? That 8.3 to 8.4 that we talked about as the floor would be higher.

Speaker #4: And typically, we wouldn't do this, but as we look at the demand or the dynamics that we're seeing in the market, we thought it was prudent to give our owners and the investment community at least some initial thoughts on what we think the floor will be going into 2027.

Speaker #4: But as you rightly pointed out, all of our focus right now is on how we get more supply to meet more of that demand.

Speaker #4: And as Gary said, and Scott said as well, if we could get more demand, we would unwind that $10 billion of backlog faster, right?

Speaker #4: And that 8.3 to 8.4 that we talked about as the floor would be higher. And so, in absolute dollar terms, we think we are accelerating the growth from '24 to '25 to '26.

Marc Graff: From an absolute dollar terms, we think we are accelerating the growth from 2024 to 2025 to 2026, and then 2027, excuse me. But it is really going to be dependent on that supply. A year ago, when we did this for the first time, we said we thought 2026 would grow 17%, and here we are at 35%. Now, I am not suggesting that my 30% in a year is going to be 60%, right? Because we are in obviously a different supply environment. But we want to make sure that we give you guys a floor and make sure that we can achieve at least that number that we give you while we continue to work on supply.

Speaker #4: And into '27, excuse me. But it's really going to be dependent on that supply. And a year ago, when we did this for the first time, we said we thought '26 would grow 17%.

Speaker #4: And here we are at 35%. Now, I'm not suggesting that my 30% in a year is going to be 60%, right? Because we're obviously in a different supply environment.

Speaker #4: But we want to make sure that we give you guys a floor, and make sure that we can achieve at least that number that we give you, while we continue to work on supply.

Speaker #3: Great. And as a quick follow-up, on scale across, I mean—to what extent is that maybe even the primary driver of growth in '27?

Tim Savageaux: Great. As a quick follow-up, on scale across, to what extent is that maybe even the primary driver of growth in 2027? I would be interested in your reaction to some pretty extraordinary comments from suppliers and competitors about dynamics and scale across. I think Cisco talking about 14x the port count versus traditional DCI, and some pretty spectacular comments from Lumentum as well. Maybe we can sharpen the focus on the scale across opportunity, how you see that TAM having maybe increased in recent quarters. Thanks again.

Speaker #3: And I'd be interested in your reaction to some pretty extraordinary comments from suppliers and competitors about dynamics and scale across. I think Cisco talking about 14 times the port count versus traditional DCI, and some pretty spectacular comments from Lumentum as well.

Speaker #3: And maybe we can sharpen the focus on the scale across opportunity, how you see that TAM having maybe increased in recent quarters. And thanks again.

Speaker #2: Yeah, Tim. I think it is a it's a major driver of demand and we were the first out there with the first scale across piece that came out of the came out of the data center.

Gary Smith: Yeah, Tim, I think it's a major driver of demand. We were the first out there with the first scale across piece that came out of the data center, so we've got good visibility to it. I concur with most of the industry comments that's gone on to it. I think it is, excuse the pun, it is at a massive scale, and it's just beginning. That's the point I would make, is we're just beginning to roll out the first connectivity between these data centers. It is almost entirely North American, US-based, and we're just beginning to link the first few data centers for a couple of hyperscalers to it. That's all in front of us. So yeah, it's a massive driver to it. But we're also seeing just a general increase in connectivity around the data centers as well.

Speaker #2: So we've got good visibility to it. I concur with most of the industry comments that have gone on to it. I think it's—excuse the pun.

Speaker #2: It is at a massive scale, and it's just beginning. That's the point I would make—we're just beginning to roll out the first connectivity between these data centers.

Speaker #2: It is almost entirely North American, U.S.-based. And we're just beginning to link the first few data centers for a couple of hyperscalers to it.

Speaker #2: And that's all in front of us. So yeah, it's a massive driver to it. But we're also seeing just the general increase in connectivity around the data centers as well.

Speaker #2: The agentic stuff's beginning to flow, particularly on the submarine cables. And the inference traffic, we also think, is a big step function. It's mainly in front of us.

Gary Smith: The agentic stuff's beginning to flow, particularly on the submarine cables. The inference traffic, we also think, is a big step function. It's mainly in front of us. So, everywhere you look, basically, Tim, you're looking at compounding waves of applications and traffic growth that will just build on top of each other. Because even the scale across, which is really predominantly now on training, started off with synchronous training. You're going to get asynchronous training as well. You're also going to get large amounts of inference cascading into that as well. So, massive amounts of connectivity between these data centers in front of us. We are only just at the early innings of that. We are incredibly well-positioned to it, having the leading platform for Hyper-Rail. RLS was an industry standard.

Speaker #2: So everywhere you look, basically, Tim, you're looking at compounding waves of applications and traffic growth that will just build on top of each other.

Speaker #2: Because even the scale across which is really predominantly now on training started off with synchronous training, you're going to get asynchronous training as well.

Speaker #2: You're also going to get large amounts of inference cascading into that as well, so massive amounts of connectivity between these data centers in front of us.

Speaker #2: And we're only just at the early innings of that. And we are incredibly well positioned for it, having the leading platform for HyperRail RLS, which is an industry standard.

Speaker #2: We have about 70% of that market share, and we expect that to continue. With HyperRail and this next generation, and the leading modem technology, we can basically move bits faster and longer than anybody else in the world.

Gary Smith: We have about 70% of that market share, and we expect that to continue with Hyper-Rail and this next generation and the leading modem technology. We can basically move bits faster and longer than anybody else in the world, and that's a super valued, critical element that will enable this.

Speaker #2: And that's a super valued, critical element that will enable this.

Speaker #4: Thanks, Tim, for the question. Thanks, Gary. We look forward to seeing everyone over the next several weeks. It's been a very busy schedule. Thanks for your time this morning.

Marc Graff: Thanks, Tim, for the question. Thanks, Gary. We look forward to seeing everyone over the next several weeks. We have a very busy schedule. Thanks for your time this morning.

Gregg Lampf: Thanks, Tim, for the question. Thanks, Gary. We look forward to seeing everyone over the next several weeks. We have a very busy schedule. Thanks for your time this morning.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.