Ciena (CIEN) 10-K2020 FY Annual report

Our website address is www.ciena.com. We make our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, available free of charge in the “Investors” section of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file these reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We routinely post these reports, recent news and announcements, financial results and other important information about our business on our website at www.ciena.com. Information contained on our website is not a part of this annual report.

The markets in which we sell are dynamic and are characterized by a high rate of change. Optical networks – which carry video, data and voice traffic by encoding digital information on multiple wavelengths of light traveling across fiber optic cables – have experienced strong traffic growth. This network traffic growth is being driven by a diverse set of communications services that often require on-demand service levels by their enterprise and consumer end users:

Emerging services and applications are further impacting or expected to impact network infrastructures, particularly at the edge of networks, where increased computing power and automation are required to meet the quality of experience required by end users. These include:

We believe that increased adoption of these services and applications and their performance requirements will further increase network traffic and place additional service challenges on network infrastructures, requiring network operator investment in both core infrastructure networks and metro, access and aggregation networks.

Many networks are still managed through legacy provisioning, inventory management, planning and fulfillment systems, and are predominantly static, or require a higher degree of manual intervention. To address growing service demands and better manage network costs, network operators are looking to adopt next-generation infrastructures that are programmable in real-time, can be accessed and configured via common open interfaces, and are better capable of leveraging data for automation. To bridge the gap between the operational realities of today and the more responsive network infrastructures of the future, we expect network operators to pursue strategies that include additional hardware programmability and software-centric strategies that emphasize one or more of the following:

We believe that adoption of these strategies, and the related evolution of core network and metro and access network infrastructures, will require network operators and their network solutions vendors to increasingly look to utilize an ecosystem of physical and virtual network resources. We expect that these network architectural approaches, in turn, will drive increased openness and interoperability of multi-vendor, multi-domain network environments, requiring an increased degree of cooperation, collaboration and interoperability among networking solutions vendors.

Our industry has experienced significant consolidation in recent years among our competitors, customers and suppliers alike. To drive scale and market share gains, and to meet the intense investment capacity required to keep pace with technology innovation, there has been increased acquisition activity among competing vendors of networking solutions. Among our customers, there have been significant horizontal and vertical consolidation activities by communications service providers and cable operators, with several such operators acquiring media and content companies. Customer consolidation can increase their purchasing power and has in the past resulted in delays or reductions in network spending due to changes in strategy or leadership, the timing of regulatory approvals and debt burdens associated with such transactions. Further, significant consolidation among component suppliers, including in the semiconductor space, may reduce the number of independent suppliers and could create supply challenges affecting our pricing or supply volumes. Consolidation activity across our industry can create opportunities and challenges for our business. We expect this trend to continue, and it may have a significant impact on the entire industry, including our competitive landscape and the range of sales opportunities for vendors and their supply chains.

Network operators are pursuing a diverse range of approaches, or “consumption models,” in their design and procurement of network infrastructure solutions. In addition to purchasing fully integrated network solutions including hardware, software and services from the same vendor, new consumption models include the procurement or use of:

Network operators, including certain of our largest customers, are also pursuing the development and use of published reference designs and open source specifications for the procurement of off-the-shelf or commoditized hardware (often referred to as “white box” hardware). This commoditized hardware could be used with in-house developed data path and control software or third-party developed network operating software. Further, a number of network operators are pursuing network strategies that emphasize the deployment of smaller form factor, pluggable modem technology, typically in a switch or router platform, as an alternative to integrated optical platforms.

The consumption models that ultimately emerge and their level of adoption will depend in significant part on the circumstances and strategies of certain network operators. While the adoption of these approaches has been limited to date, we expect that continued customer consideration of a variety of consumption models will require network operators and vendors alike to assess, and possibly broaden, their offerings and commercial models over time, thereby placing a premium on a vendor’s ability to provide robust network solutions with the maximum amount of flexibility and choice.

Our strategy is to leverage our technology leadership, diversification and global scale to drive the profitable growth of our business. Key elements of this strategy include:

We sell our product and service solutions through direct and indirect sales channels to network operators in the following customer and market segments:

Our Networking Platforms segment consists of our Converged Packet Optical and Packet Networking portfolios.

Our Waveserver® family of products consists of stackable interconnect platforms that allow network operators to scale bandwidth and support high-bandwidth interconnect applications, such as high-speed data transfer, content delivery, virtual machine migration and disaster recovery/backup between data centers. Waveserver is a specialized, compact platform that is purpose-built for addressing data center and other space-constrained environments using a small footprint and low power design. With its management interfaces and open APIs, Waveserver is easy to operate and to integrate into existing networks and facilitates deployment of on-demand cloud and high-capacity connectivity services.

Our 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS) is a compact, simple-to-deploy, photonic layer solution that improves scalability, reduces footprint, and offers more flexibility and programmability. Its applications include long-haul and metro data center interconnection and metro and access network modernization and simplification. It provides highly dense remote optical add/drop multiplexing features and amplifier configurations that enable network operators to react to unpredictable traffic requirements by scaling connectivity and capacity.

Our 5400 family of Packet-Optical Platforms consist of multi-terabit reconfigurable switching systems that consolidate the functionality of an add/drop multiplexer and a digital cross-connect into a single, high-capacity intelligent switching system. These products address both core and metro segments of communications networks and support key managed services, including Ethernet/TDM Private Line and IP services. These products provide for optical transport, traffic aggregation at the network edge and switching that are optimized for handoff at the network core.

Our entrance into the market for merchant modem opportunities remains in the early stages. As such, revenue has not been significant to date. Sales of our Optical Microsystems products are reflected within the Converged Packet Optical product line of our Networking Platforms segment.

Our 6500 Packet Transport System (“PTS”) combines packet switching, control plane operation and integrated optics. Together with our 3900 platforms, PTS enables our service provider customers to migrate their legacy TDM (SONET/SDH/PDH) services to a scalable, lower operational cost packet solution.

Our Packet Networking portfolio also includes our 8700 Packetwave Platform, a multi-terabit packet switching platform for high-density metro networks and inter-data center wide area networks. The 8700 combines packet switching and coherent WaveLogic DWDM optical transport technologies for both data center networks and metro networks.

Our software offerings also include our Platform Software, which provides domain control management, analytics, data and planning tools to assist customers in managing our Networking Platforms products in their networks. Our Platform Software includes:

Our Platform Software offering also includes planning tools and a number of legacy software solutions that support our installed base of network solutions. As we achieve further customer adoption of our MCP software platform and we transition features, functionality and customers to this platform, we expect revenue to decline for our legacy Platform Software solutions.

Our Blue Planet Automation Software is a comprehensive, micro-services, standards-based open software suite that enables customers to implement large-scale software and IT-led OSS transformations by transforming legacy networks into “service ready” networks, accelerating the creation, delivery and lifecycle management of new, cloud-based services. Our Blue Planet Automation Software solutions also allow service providers to drive optimization and increased automation of their network and IT infrastructures, reducing costs and enabling a more predictive, autonomous network. A number of applications can be deployed on this software platform, either individually or in any combination, including:

The Blue Planet Automation Software portfolio when used together allows operators to fulfill services rapidly and to meet end-customer quality-of-experience expectations via an entire services lifecycle approach, thus accelerating network operators towards their vision of self-healing and self-optimizing closed loop automation. Our entrance into the market relating to these software automation capabilities remains in the early stages and, as such, revenue from our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services segment continues to represent a relatively small portion of our total revenue.

To complement our Networking Platforms portfolio, we offer a broad suite of value-added services that help our customers to build, improve and operate their networks. We believe that our services offerings and our close collaboration with our customers provide us with valuable insight into the network and business challenges they face, allowing us to provide services to meet their desired business outcomes. We have undertaken a multi-year transformation process to enhance our service delivery capability, reorganizing our resources into regional service delivery functions to better serve our customers, and

Our Global Services portfolio includes a range of offerings to meet customer needs and maximize their network infrastructure investment throughout the network lifecycle. These include:

We also provide a portfolio of training services and provide these and the services above using a combination of our internal services resources, technical support engineers, and qualified and authorized third-party service partners.

To remain competitive, we must continually invest in and enhance our solutions offerings, adding new features and functionality and ensuring alignment with market demand. Our product development efforts seek to design and bring to market solutions that leverage our Adaptive Network vision to make our customers’ networks more adaptive through further advances in programmable hardware, analytics, and control and automation. Through our development efforts, we seek to enable network operators to achieve improved economics and return on their network infrastructure investment, including with respect to price for performance, power consumption, space requirements, service enablement, and lifecycle operating costs. Our approach is also focused on designing products that address a range of emerging consumption models for networking solutions. Our current development efforts are focused on:

Our research and development efforts are also geared toward portfolio optimization and engineering changes intended to drive product and manufacturing cost reductions across our platforms.

We regularly review our existing solutions offerings and prospective development of new components, features or products in order to determine their fit within our portfolio and broader corporate strategy. We also assess the market demand, technology evolution, prospective return on investment and growth opportunities, as well as the costs and resources necessary to develop and support these products. To ensure that our product development investments and solutions offerings are closely aligned with market demand, we continually seek input from customers and promote collaboration among our product development, marketing and sales organizations. In some cases, where we seek to utilize or gain access to complementary or emerging technologies or solutions, we may obtain technology through an acquisition or, alternatively, through initiatives with third parties pursuant to technology licenses, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangements and other strategic technology relationships or investments. In addition, we participate in industry and standards organizations and, where appropriate, incorporate information from these affiliations throughout the product development process.

Our Global Sales and Marketing organization includes a direct sales presence that is organized geographically around the following markets: (i) the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America (“Americas”); (ii) Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”); and (iii) Asia Pacific, Japan and India (“APAC”). Within each geographic area, we maintain specific teams

We also maintain a global partner program that involves resellers, systems integrators, service providers and other third-party distributors who market and sell our products and services. We utilize these third-party channel partners to market and sell our solutions into specific geographies, applications or customer verticals. We believe there are opportunities to leverage these relationships to expand our addressable market, while at the same time reducing the financial and operational risk of entering additional markets. For third parties in our Ciena Partner Network, we maintain a code of conduct that is available on our website and that sets forth our expectations for the high standards of ethical and legally compliant conduct we require of them in supporting our business.

To support our sales efforts, we engage in marketing activities to generate demand for our products and services. Our marketing strategy is highly focused on building our brand to create customer preference for Ciena, engaging in thought leadership programs to illustrate how our innovations solve customer business problems, and enabling our sales teams to drive customer adoption of our solutions. Our marketing team supports our sales efforts through a variety of activities, including direct customer interaction, account-based marketing campaigns, portfolio marketing, industry events, media relations, industry analyst relations, social media, trade shows, our website and other marketing vehicles for our customers and channel partners.

Our operations personnel manage the relationships with our third-party manufacturers and global supply chain, addressing component sourcing, manufacturing, product testing and quality, and fulfillment and logistics relating to the distribution and support of our products.

We utilize a sourcing strategy that emphasizes global procurement of materials and product manufacturing in lower cost regions. We rely upon third-party contract manufacturers, including those with facilities in Canada, Mexico, Thailand and the United States, to manufacture, support and ship our products, and therefore are exposed to risks associated with their businesses, financial condition and the geographies in which they operate, including political risk and changes in tax and trade policy involving such countries. We also rely upon contract manufacturers and other third parties to perform design and prototype development, component procurement, full production, final assembly, testing and distribution operations. Our manufacturers procure components necessary for assembly and manufacture of our products based on our specifications, approved vendor lists, bills of materials and testing and quality standards. Our manufacturers’ activity is based on rolling forecasts that we provide to them to estimate demand for our products. We work closely with our manufacturers and suppliers to manage material, quality, cost and delivery times, and we continually evaluate their services to ensure performance on a reliable and cost-effective basis. Generally, our agreements with our supply chain and contract manufacturers are frame agreements against which we place purchase orders and do not represent long-term commitments.

We currently use distribution partners to fulfill and deliver our products. We believe that our sourcing, manufacturing and distribution strategies allow us to conserve capital, lower costs of product sales, adjust quickly to changes in market demand and operate without dedicating significant resources to manufacturing-related plant and equipment.

We continue to focus on a range of initiatives that seek to optimize our operations, improve our resiliency, and drive cost reductions. We seek to balance these goals through our sourcing and supply chain strategy, outsourcing and use of lower cost geographies. Our efforts also include process optimization initiatives, such as vendor-managed inventory, and other operational models and strategies designed to drive improved efficiencies in our sourcing, production, logistics and fulfillment.

We actively work with our third-party vendors and business partners to promote socially responsible business practices within our own business and those within our global supply chain. To that end, we have adopted the principles set forth in the Responsible Business Alliance (“RBA”) Code of Conduct. The RBA Code of Conduct establishes standards to ensure working conditions in the electronics industry, or industries in which electronics are a key component, and its supply chains are safe, that workers are treated with respect and dignity, and that business operations are environmentally responsible and conducted ethically. We promote these principles and require our suppliers to adhere to these same standards. We also publish a Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which includes more detail about our efforts to promote responsible business practices.

Like other companies in our industry, we experience quarterly fluctuations in customer activity due to seasonal considerations. We typically experience reductions in order volume toward the end of the calendar year, as the procurement cycles of some of our customers slow and network deployment activity by service providers is curtailed. This period coincides

Keeping pace with the market’s demands for technology innovation requires considerable research and development investment capacity. As a result, some of our competitors, both large and small, have chosen to rely upon merchant modem technology developed by and procured from third-party providers, including NTT Electronics (NEL), Inphi (which has agreed to be acquired by Marvell Technology Group) and Acacia Communications (which has agreed to be acquired by Cisco). We may compete with these providers, either indirectly as a result of their technology being a key enabling technology for our competitors or an alternative consumption model such as “whitebox” technology, or directly in merchant modem sales opportunities.

As we promote our corporate strategy and seek increased customer adoption of our Blue Planet Automation Software, we expect to compete more directly with software vendors and traditional IT services vendors. Competitors for our Blue Planet Automation Software include Cisco, Nokia, Amdocs, Netcracker and Ericsson.

Across our markets and segments, the principal competitive factors can include, among others:

As a result of the intense environment in which we compete, winning new opportunities can often require that we agree to unfavorable commercial terms or pricing and other onerous contractual commitments. In so doing, our expectation is that we can recover or improve the economics of such relationships over time. However, these terms can adversely affect our results of operations in any period. These terms can also lengthen our revenue recognition or cash collection cycles, add start-up costs to initial sales or deployment of our solutions, require financial commitments or performance bonds, and place a disproportionate allocation of risk upon us.

Our competitive landscape has been and is likely to continue to be impacted by pending trade and related matters between the U.S. and China. For example, in May 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce amended the Export Administration Regulations by adding Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and certain affiliates to the “Entity List,” resulting in significant new restrictions on export, reexport and transfer of U.S. regulated technologies and products to Huawei. In August 2020, the U.S.

We also expect the competition in our industry to continue to broaden and to intensify as network operators pursue a diverse range of network strategies and consumption models. As these changes occur, we expect that our business will overlap more directly with additional networking solution suppliers, including IP router vendors, data center switch providers and other suppliers or integrators of networking technology traditionally geared toward different network applications, layers or functions. We may also face competition from system and component vendors, including those in our supply chain, who develop pluggable modem technology or other networking products based on off-the-shelf or commoditized hardware technology, referred to as “white box” hardware, particularly where a customer’s network strategy seeks to emphasize deployment of such product offerings or to adopt a disaggregated approach to the procurement of hardware and software.

The success of our business and technology leadership depends significantly on our proprietary and internally developed technology. We rely upon the intellectual property protections afforded by patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret laws to establish, maintain and enforce rights in our proprietary technologies and product branding. We regularly file applications for patents and have a significant number of patents in the United States and other countries where we do business. As of December 1, 2020, we had approximately 2,000 issued patents and more than 500 pending patent applications worldwide.

Enforcing proprietary rights, especially patents, can be costly, and we cannot be certain that the steps that we are taking will detect, prevent, or minimize the risks of all unauthorized use. The industry in which we compete is characterized by rapidly changing technology, a large number of patents, and frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. We have been subject to several claims related to patent infringement, and we have been requested to indemnify customers pursuant to contractual indemnity obligations relating to infringement claims made by third parties. Intellectual property infringement assertions could cause us to incur substantial costs, including settlement costs and legal fees in the defense of related actions. If we are not successful in defending these claims, our business could be adversely affected.

Our operating system software, Platform Software, Blue Planet Automation Software and other solutions incorporate software and components under licenses from third parties, including software subject to various open source software licenses. Failure to obtain or maintain such licenses or other third-party intellectual property rights could affect our development efforts and market opportunities, or could require us to re-engineer our products or to obtain alternate technologies. Moreover, there is a risk that open source and other technology licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products.

Our business and operations are subject to environmental laws in various jurisdictions around the world, including the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) regulations adopted by the European Union (the “EU”). We are also subject to disclosure and related requirements that apply to the presence of “conflict minerals” in our products or supply chain. We seek to operate our business in compliance with applicable laws relating to the materials and content of our products and product takeback and recycling. Environmental regulation is increasing, particularly outside of the United States, and we expect that our domestic and international operations may be subject to additional environmental compliance requirements, which could require us to incur additional costs. To date, our compliance actions and costs relating to environmental regulations have not resulted in a material cost or effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position.

Our innovation efforts and our environmental sustainability initiatives are closely linked. Our product development efforts focus on allowing network operators to continually “do more with less.” We promote environmental sustainability through our efforts to improve the energy efficiency per gigabit of throughput in our high-performance networking solutions, as well as our initiatives to improve power, space and cooling requirements, and to reduce the total number of network elements required to operate a network. We pursue opportunities to minimize the resource impacts in our product design and sourcing, and to assess and improve efficiencies over the life cycle of our products, including packaging and distribution, and end-of-life reuse,

As a company with global operations, we are subject to complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations, including trade regulations, tariffs, import and export regulations, anti-bribery and corruption laws, antitrust or competition laws, data privacy laws, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), and environmental regulations, among others. We have policies and procedures in place to promote compliance with these laws and regulations. To date, our compliance actions and costs relating to these laws, rules and regulations have not resulted in a material cost or effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position. Government regulations are subject to change, and accordingly we are unable to assess the possible effect of compliance with future requirements or whether our compliance with such regulations will materially impact our business in the future. For further discussion of how government regulations may affect our business, see the related discussion in “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Litigation, Regulation and Government Policy.”

Our technology solutions are developed, provided, marketed, sold and supported by the talented individuals that make up our 7,032 person global workforce as of October 31, 2020. We understand that our industry and innovation leadership is ultimately rooted in people. Competition for qualified personnel in the technology space is intense, and our success depends in large part on our ability to recruit, develop and retain a productive and engaged workforce. Accordingly, investing in our employees and their wellbeing, offering competitive compensation and benefits, and adopting progressive human capital management practices constitute a core element of our corporate strategy.

As a strategic imperative for our business, our Board of Directors oversees management’s design and execution of our “people strategy.” This strategy seeks to ensure that we continue to attract and retain the talent necessary to execute on our business plans, and that we have programs, initiatives, rewards and recognition that are well aligned and support these goals. As part of this strategy, during fiscal 2020, our executive leadership team developed and we launched to our employees our “People Promise,” which focuses on fostering a workplace environment where our employees are empowered, feel included and have an opportunity to make a difference through their work at Ciena. In doing so, we seek to cultivate for employees a culture of vibrancy, belonging and happiness, while enabling us to be an attractive employer of choice within our markets. To that end, our people strategy is focused on the following:

Our Directors hold staggered terms of office, expiring as follows: Mr. Claflin, Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Nevens in 2021; Ms. Fitt, Mr. Kumar and Dr. Nettles in 2022; and Ms. O’Brien, Ms. Olsen and Mr. Smith in 2023. In June 2020, Dr. Ahmed was appointed to fill a newly created vacancy in Class III of the Board of Directors. Accordingly, he will stand for election at the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and, if elected by stockholders, his term of office will expire in 2024.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. In addition to the other information contained in this report, you should consider the following risk factors before investing in our securities.

Competition for sales of communications networking equipment, software and services is intense on a global basis, as we and our competitors aggressively seek to capture market share and displace incumbent equipment vendors. Part of our strategy is to leverage our technology leadership and to aggressively capture additional market share and displace competitors, particularly with communications service providers internationally. This market share capture has been an important contributor to our growth in recent years. However, restrictions on travel and gatherings due to COVID-19 countermeasures have impacted, and are likely to continue to impact, our interaction with customers, and the timing of certain field and lab trials. Restrictions have also impacted, and are likely to continue to impact, our ability to carry out certain sales and marketing activities, and adversely impacted our ability to secure new customers, to qualify and sell new products, and to grow sales with customers where we do not have longer-standing supply relationships, including within our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services segment and our Packet Networking product line. If we fail to win new business or to compete successfully in our markets, our business and results of operations could suffer.

A significant portion of our revenue is concentrated among a small number of customers. For example, our ten largest customers contributed 54.5% of our revenue for fiscal 2020 and 59.3% of our fiscal 2019 revenue, and we have seen a further concentration in our orders during the second and third quarters of fiscal 2020. Historically, our largest customers by revenue principally consisted of large communications service providers. For example, AT&T accounted for approximately 10.6% of our revenue for fiscal 2020 and 10.9% of our revenue for fiscal 2019, and Verizon accounted for 12.9% of our revenue for fiscal 2019. As a result of efforts in recent years to diversify our business, the customer segments and geographies that comprise our customer base and top customers by revenue have changed. During fiscal 2020 and 2019, three Web-scale providers were among our top ten customers. Web-scale customers have been important contributors to our revenue through both our direct sales to them, including for data center interconnection, and their indirect impact on purchases by other network operators. Consequently, our financial results and our ability to grow our business are closely correlated with the spending of a relatively small number of customers. Our business and results of operations could be materially adversely impacted by the loss of a large customer within or outside of these customer segments as well as by reductions in spending or capital expenditure budgets, changes in network deployment plans or changes in consumption models for acquiring networking solutions by our largest customers.

There have been significant horizontal and vertical consolidation activities by communications service providers and cable operators, with several such operators acquiring media and content companies. Customer consolidation can increase customer purchasing power and has in the past resulted in delays or reductions in network spending due to changes in strategy or leadership, the timing of regulatory approvals and debt burdens associated with such transactions.

Because of our concentration of revenue with communications service providers and Web-scale providers, our business and results of operations can be significantly affected by market, industry or competitive dynamics adversely affecting these customer segments. For example, communications service providers continue to face a rapidly shifting competitive landscape as cloud service operators, “over-the-top” (OTT) providers, and other content providers challenge their traditional business models and network infrastructures. These dynamics have in the past had an adverse effect on network spending levels by certain of our

In addition, the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economic conditions have affected and may continue to affect the network spending, procurement strategies, or business practices of our largest customers. For example, our service provider customers rely in part upon the sale of services to consumers and enterprises, including those in the retail, entertainment, and travel industries, which have been acutely impacted by the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, certain of our Web-scale customers have business models that heavily rely upon advertising revenue from enterprises, including those in industries acutely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. If any of our large customers experience a loss in revenue due to the impact of COVID-19 on their consumer or enterprise customers, they may reduce capital spending on networking projects, including data centers, which could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We face an intense competitive market for sales of communications networking equipment, software and services. Competition is intense on a global basis, as we and our competitors aggressively seek to capture market share and displace incumbent equipment vendors. Our industry has historically been dominated by a small number of very large vendors, some of which have substantially greater financial and marketing resources, broader product offerings and more established relationships with service providers and other customer segments than we do. In addition, to drive scale and market share gains and meet the intense investment capacity required to keep pace with technology innovation, acquisition activity among vendors of networking solutions has increased. Consolidation in our industry may result in competitors with greater resources, pricing flexibility, or other synergies, which may provide them with a competitive advantage.

Certain of our customers are adopting procurement strategies that seek to purchase a broader set of networking solutions from a single or small number of vendors. Because of their scale, resources, and a more diverse set of solution offerings, certain of our larger competitors may be perceived to be a better fit for the procurement or network operating and management strategies of these customers. We also compete with a number of smaller companies that provide significant competition for specific products, applications, customer segments or geographic markets. Due to the narrower focus of their efforts, these competitors may achieve commercial availability of their products more quickly or may be more attractive to customers in a particular product niche.

Generally, competition in our markets is based on any one or a combination of the following factors:

Part of our strategy is to leverage our technology leadership and to aggressively capture additional market share and displace competitors, particularly with communications service providers internationally. In an effort to maintain our incumbency or to secure new customer opportunities, we have in the past, and may in the future, agree to aggressive pricing, commercial concessions and other unfavorable terms that result in low or negative gross margins on a particular order or group of orders. Competition can also result in onerous commercial and legal terms and conditions that place a disproportionate amount of risk on us.

We expect the competition in our industry to continue to broaden and to intensify, as network operators pursue a diverse range of network strategies and consumption models. As these changes occur, we expect that our business will compete more directly with additional networking solution suppliers, including IP router vendors, data center switch providers and other suppliers or integrators of networking technology. In addition, as we seek increased customer adoption of our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services, and as network operator demands for programmability, automation and analytics increase, we expect to compete more directly with software vendors and IT vendors or integrators of these solutions. We may also face competition from system and component vendors, including those in our supply chain, that develop networking products based on off-the-shelf or commoditized hardware technology, referred to as “white box” hardware, particularly where a customer’s network strategy seeks to emphasize deployment of such product offerings or adopt a disaggregated approach to the procurement of hardware and software. An increase in competitive intensity, the adoption of new consumption models, or the entry of new competitors into our markets, may adversely impact our business and results of operations. If competitive pressures increase, or if we fail to compete successfully in our markets, our business and results of operations could suffer.

The market for communications networking hardware and software solutions is characterized by rapidly evolving technologies, changes in market demand and increasing adoption of software-based networking solutions. We continually invest in research and development to sustain or enhance our existing hardware and software solutions and to develop or acquire new technologies including new software platforms. There is often a lengthy period between commencing these development initiatives and bringing new or improved solutions to market. Accordingly, there is no guarantee that our new products, including our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services, or enhancements to other solutions, will achieve market acceptance or that the timing of market adoption will be as predicted. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology preferences, customer demand and the markets for our solutions may move in directions that we had not anticipated. As a general matter, there is a significant possibility that some of our development decisions, including significant expenditures on acquisitions, research and development, or investments in technologies, will not meet our expectations, and that our investment in some projects will be unprofitable. There is also a possibility that we may miss a market opportunity because we failed to invest or invested too late in a technology, product or enhancement sought by our customers or the markets into which we sell. Changes in market demand or investment priorities may also cause us to discontinue existing or planned development for new products or features, which can have a disruptive effect on our relationships with customers. In addition, failure to develop, on a cost-effective basis, innovative new or enhanced solutions that are attractive to customers and profitable to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our sales efforts, particularly with communications service providers, Web-scale providers and other large customers, often involve lengthy sales cycles. These selling efforts often involve a significant commitment of time and resources that may include extensive product testing, laboratory or network certification, network or region-specific product certification and homologation requirements for deployment in networks. Even after a customer awards its business to us or decides to purchase our solutions, the length of time before deployment can vary depending on the customer’s schedule, site readiness, the size of the network deployment, the degree of custom configuration required and other factors. Additionally, these sales also often involve protracted and sometimes difficult contract negotiations in which we may deem it necessary to agree to unfavorable contractual or commercial terms that adversely affect pricing, expose us to penalties for delays or non-performance and require us to assume a disproportionate amount of risk. To maintain incumbency with key customers, we may be required to offer discounted pricing, make commercial concessions or offer less favorable terms as compared to our historical business arrangements with these

A key part of our business strategy is to increase customer adoption of our Blue Planet Automation Software Platform. If the markets relating to software solutions for network automation, including service orchestration, route optimization, analytics and assurance, and SDN or NFV, do not develop as we anticipate, or if we are unable to commercialize, increase market awareness and gain adoption of our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services within those markets, revenue from our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services may not grow. We have a limited history in commercializing and selling these software solutions and have only recently acquired certain elements of our Blue Planet portfolio. Moreover, the market and competitive landscape for these solutions is dynamic, and it is difficult to predict important trends, including the potential growth, if any, of this market. If the market for these software solutions does not evolve in the way we anticipate or if customers do not adopt our Blue Planet Automation Software and Services, a key part of our strategy for growth would be adversely affected and our financial results may suffer.

Growing bandwidth demands and network operator efforts to reduce costs are resulting in a diverse range of approaches to the design and procurement of network infrastructure. We refer to these different approaches as “consumption models.” These consumption models can include: the traditional systems procurement of fully integrated solutions including hardware, software and services from the same vendor; the procurement of a fully integrated hardware solution from one vendor with the separate use of a network operator’s own SDN-based controller; the procurement of an integrated photonic line system with open interfaces from one vendor and the separate or “disaggregated” procurement of modem technology from a different vendor; or the development and use of published reference designs and open source specifications for the procurement of “white box” hardware to be used with open source software. In parallel, network operators are also exploring procurement alternatives for software solutions, ranging from integrated and proprietary software platforms to fully open source software.

We believe that network operators will continue to consider a variety of different consumption models. Many of these approaches are in their very early stages of development and evaluation, and the types of models and their levels of adoption will depend in significant part on the nature of the circumstances and strategies of particular network operators. Among our customers, AT&T, certain Web-scale providers and others are pursuing network strategies that emphasize enhanced software programmability, management and control of networks, and deployment of “white box” hardware. A number of network operators are pursuing the deployment of smaller form factor, pluggable modem technology, particularly within switching and routing solutions, as an alternative to integrated optical networking platforms. Other network operators, including certain of our Web-scale customers, are playing a leading role in the transition to software-defined networking or the standardization of communications network solutions. We believe that the potential for different approaches to the procurement of networking infrastructure will require network operators and vendors to evolve and broaden their existing solutions and commercial models over time. Adoption of a range of consumption models may also alter and broaden our competitive landscape to include other technology vendors, including routing vendors, component vendors and IT software vendors. If we are unable to adapt our business to these new consumption models and offer attractive solutions and commercial models that accommodate the range of consumption models ultimately adopted by our customers or within our markets, our business, competitive position and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We recently entered the merchant modem market to monetize our coherent optical technology, expand our addressable market and address a range of customer consumption models for networking solutions. Making our critical technology available in this manner could adversely impact the sale of products in our existing systems business. For example, our customers may choose to adopt disaggregated consumption models or third-party solutions that embed Ciena-designed optical modules instead of purchasing systems-based solutions from us. Accordingly, we may encounter situations where we are competing for

In the course of our sales to customers and resale channel partners, we may have difficulty collecting receivables, and our business and results of operations could be exposed to risks associated with uncollectible accounts. Lack of liquidity in the capital markets, macroeconomic weakness and market volatility may increase our exposure to these credit risks. Our attempts to monitor customer payment capability and to take appropriate measures to protect ourselves may not be sufficient, and it is possible that we may have to write down or write off accounts receivable. Such write-downs or write-offs could negatively affect our operating results for the period in which they occur, and, if large, could have a material adverse effect on our revenue and operating results.

As of October 31, 2020, our balance sheet also includes $310.8 million of goodwill. We test each reporting unit for impairment of goodwill on an annual basis and, between annual tests, if an event occurs or circumstances change that would, more likely than not, reduce the fair value of the reporting unit below its carrying value. As of October 31, 2020, our balance sheet also includes $488.1 million in long-lived assets, which includes $96.6 million of intangible assets. Valuation of our long-lived assets requires us to make assumptions about future sales prices and sales volumes for our products. These assumptions are used to forecast future, undiscounted cash flows on which our estimates are based. The value of our net deferred tax asset above may also be subject to change in the future, based on our actual or projected generation of future taxable income. If market conditions or our forecasts for our business or any particular operating segment change, we may be required to reassess the value

We have entered into agreements with strategic supply partners that permit us to distribute their products or technology. We may rely on these relationships to add complementary products or technologies, to diversify our product portfolio, or to address a particular customer or geographic market. We may enter into additional original equipment manufacturer (OEM), resale or similar strategic arrangements in the future. We may incur unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to our resale of third-party products. Our third-party relationships could expose us to risks associated with the business, financial condition, intellectual property rights and supply chain continuity of such partners, as well as delays in their development, manufacturing or delivery of products or technology. We may also be required by customers to assume warranty, indemnity, service and other commercial obligations, including potential liability to customers, greater than the commitments, if any, made to us by our technology partners. Some of our strategic supply partners are relatively small companies with limited financial resources. If they are unable to satisfy their obligations to us or our customers, we may have to expend our own resources to satisfy these obligations. Exposure to these risks could harm our reputation with key customers and could negatively affect our business and our results of operations.

From time to time, we acquire or make investments in other technology companies, or enter into other strategic relationships, to expand the markets we address, diversify our customer base or acquire, or accelerate the development of, technology or products. To do so, we may use cash, issue equity that could dilute our current stockholders, or incur debt or assume indebtedness. Strategic transactions can involve numerous additional risks, including:

Our business and operating results depend significantly on general market and economic conditions. Market volatility and weakness in the regions in which we operate have previously resulted in sustained periods of decreased demand for our products and services, which has adversely affected our operating results. The current global macroeconomic environment is challenging and volatile, and is being significantly and adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Macroeconomic and market conditions could also be adversely affected by a variety of political, economic or other factors in the United States and international markets, which could in turn adversely affect spending levels of our customers and their end users, and could create volatility or deteriorating conditions in the markets in which we operate. Due to our concentration of revenue in the United States, we would expect to incur a more significant impact from any adverse change in the capital spending environment or macroeconomic or market weakness in the United States. Macroeconomic uncertainty or weakness could result in:

We market, sell and service our products globally, maintain personnel in numerous countries, and rely on a global supply chain for sourcing important components and manufacturing our products. Our international sales and operations are subject to inherent risks, including:

Our international operations are subject to complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations, including anti-bribery and corruption laws, antitrust or competition laws, data privacy laws, such as the GDPR, and environmental regulations, among others. In particular, recent years have seen a substantial increase in anti-bribery law enforcement activity by U.S. regulators, and we currently operate and seek to operate in many parts of the world that are recognized as having greater potential for corruption. Violations of any of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions against us or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and on our ability to offer our products and services in certain geographies, and significant harm to our business reputation. Our policies and procedures to promote compliance with these laws and regulations and to mitigate these risks may not protect us from all acts committed by our employees or third-party vendors, including contractors, agents and services partners. Additionally, the costs of complying with these laws (including the costs of investigations, auditing and monitoring) could adversely affect our current or future business.

The success of our international sales and operations will depend, in large part, on our ability to anticipate and manage these risks effectively. Our failure to manage any of these risks could harm our international operations, reduce our international sales, and could give rise to liabilities, costs or other business difficulties that could adversely affect our operations and financial results.

Part of our business and growth strategy is to expand our geographic reach and increase market share in international markets through a combination of direct and indirect sales resources. We are also aggressively pursuing opportunities with service provider customers in additional geographies, including EMEA and APAC. This diversification of our markets and customer base has been a significant component of the growth of our business in recent years. Our efforts to continue to increase our sales and capture market share in international markets may ultimately be unsuccessful or may adversely impact our financial results, including our gross margin. Our failure to continue to increase our sales and market share in international markets could limit our growth and could harm our results of operations.

As a company with global operations, we face exposure to movements in foreign currency exchange rates. Due to our global presence, a significant percentage of our revenue, operating expense and assets and liabilities are non-U.S. Dollar denominated and therefore subject to foreign currency fluctuation. We face exposure to currency exchange rates as a result of the growth in our non-U.S. Dollar denominated operating expense in Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America. An increase in the value of the U.S. Dollar could increase the real cost to our customers of our products in those markets outside the United States where we sell in Dollars, and a weakened Dollar could increase the cost of local operating expenses and procurement of materials or service that we purchase in foreign currencies. From time to time, we hedge against currency exposure associated with anticipated foreign currency cash flows or assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency. Such attempts to offset the impact of currency fluctuations are costly, and we cannot hedge against all foreign exchange rate volatility. Losses associated with these hedging instruments and the adverse effect of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuation may negatively affect our results of operations.

Our hardware and software networking solutions, including our coherent optical chipset, our WaveLogic modem technology and the components thereof, are based on complex technology, and we can experience unanticipated delays in developing, manufacturing and introducing these solutions to market. Delays in product development efforts by us or our supply chain may affect our reputation with customers, affect our ability to capture market opportunities and impact the timing and level of demand for our products. Among other things, we are currently extending our Packet Networking portfolio with additional IP features, and introducing new solutions within our Platform Software and Services and Blue Planet Automation Software and Services segments. Each step in the development cycle of our products presents serious risks of failure, rework or delay, any one

We are exposed to risks relating to unfavorable economic conditions, financial difficulties and a wide range of market, regulatory and industry challenges affecting the businesses, financial position and results of operations of our third-party suppliers of components and certain finished goods inventory. These challenges can affect their business in a number of ways, including material costs, sales, liquidity levels, ability to continue investing in their businesses, ability to import or export goods, ability to meet development commitments and manufacturing capability.

A number of our key technology vendors rely upon sales to customers, including our competitors, in China for a material portion of their revenue. Recently, there have been a number of significant geopolitical events, including trade tensions and regulatory actions, involving the governments of the United States and China. In May 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce amended the Export Administration Regulations by adding Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and certain affiliates to the “Entity List” for actions contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, imposing significant new restrictions on export, reexport and transfer of U.S. regulated technologies and products to Huawei. In August 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce added additional Huawei affiliates to the Entity List, confirmed the expiration of a temporary general license applicable to Huawei and amended the foreign direct product rule in a manner that represents a significant expansion of its application to Huawei. Several of our third-party component suppliers, including certain sole and limited source suppliers, sell products to Huawei and, in some cases, Huawei is a significant customer for such suppliers. At this time, there can be no assurance regarding the scope or duration of these restrictions, including the foreign direct product rule, or further actions imposed on Huawei, and any future impact on our suppliers. Any continued restriction on our suppliers’ ability to make sales to Huawei may adversely impact their businesses and financial position. In addition, in January 2018, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released its Optoelectronic Devices Industry Technology Roadmap, a five-year plan to improve China’s capabilities in the optoelectronics industry. There can be no assurance that this initiative, or similar efforts in China such as the Made in China 2025 initiatives, will not have an adverse impact on the business of our suppliers or our access to necessary components. These and similar industry, market and regulatory disruptions affecting our suppliers could, in turn, expose our business to loss or lack of supply or discontinuation of components that could result in lost revenue, additional product costs, increased lead times and deployment delays that could harm our business and customer relationships. Our business and results of operations would be negatively affected if we were to experience any significant disruption or difficulties with key suppliers affecting the price, quality, availability or timely delivery of required components.

In order to sell into new markets, diversify our customer base and broaden the application for our solutions, and to complement our global field resources, we rely on a number of third-party resellers, distribution partners and sales agents, both domestic and international, and we believe that these relationships are an important part of our business. There can be no assurance that we will successfully identify and qualify these resources or that we will realize the expected benefits of these sales relationships. Our failure to effectively identify, develop and manage our third-party sales relationships could adversely affect our business, growth and result of operations. We must also assess and qualify resellers, distribution partners and sales agents under our channel programs to ensure their understanding of and willingness and ability to adhere to our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, our Ciena Partner Network Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and ethical business practices. We may be held responsible or liable for the actions or omissions of these third parties. Actions, omissions or violations of law by our third-party sales partners or agents could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

We rely on a number of third-party service partners, both domestic and international, to complement our global service and support resources. We rely on these partners for certain installation, maintenance and support functions. In addition, as network operators increasingly seek to rely on vendors to perform additional services relating to the design, construction and operation of their networks, the scope of work performed by our support partners is likely to increase and may include areas where we have less experience providing or managing such services. We must successfully identify, assess, train and certify qualified service partners in order to ensure the proper installation, deployment and maintenance of our products, as well as to ensure the skillful performance of other services associated with expanded solutions offerings, including site assessment and construction-related services. We must also assess and certify service partners in order to ensure their understanding of and willingness and ability to adhere to our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, the RBA Code of Conduct, and ethical business practices. Vetting and certification of these partners can be costly and time-consuming, and certain partners may not have the same operational history, financial resources and scale as we have. Moreover, certain service partners may provide similar services for other companies, including our competitors. We may not be able to manage our relationships with our service partners effectively, and we cannot be certain that they will be able to deliver services in the manner or time required, that we will be able to maintain the continuity of their services, or that they will adhere to our approach to ethical business practices. We may also be exposed to a number of risks or challenges relating to the performance of our service partners, including:

As our service offering expands and customers look to identify vendors capable of managing, integrating and optimizing multi-domain, multi-vendor networks with unified software, our relationships with third-party service partners will become increasingly important. If we do not effectively manage our relationships with third-party service partners, or if they fail to perform these services in the manner or time required, our financial results and relationships with customers could be adversely affected.

We rely on a number of internal business processes and information systems to support key business functions, and the efficient operation of these processes and systems is critical to managing our business. Our business processes and information systems must be sufficiently scalable to support the growth of our business and may require modifications or upgrades that expose us to a number of operational risks. We continually pursue initiatives to transform and optimize our business operations through the reengineering of certain processes, investment in automation, and engagement of strategic partners or resources to assist with certain business functions. These changes require a significant investment of capital and human resources and may be costly and disruptive to our operations, and they could impose substantial demands on management time. These changes may also require changes in our information systems, modification of internal control procedures and significant training of employees or third-party resources. There can be no assurance that our business and operations will not experience disruption in connection with system upgrades or other initiatives. Even if we do not encounter these adverse effects or disruption in our business, the design and implementation of these new systems may be more costly than anticipated.

Our IT systems, and those of third-party IT providers or business partners, may also be vulnerable to damage or disruption caused by circumstances beyond our control, including catastrophic events, power anomalies or outages, natural disasters, cyber-security related incidents, and computer system or network failures. There can be no assurance that our business systems or those of our third-party business partners will not be subject to similar incidents, exposing us to significant cost, reputational harm and disruption or damage to our business.

We have taken steps, including reductions in force, office closures, and internal reorganizations to reduce the cost of our operations, improve efficiencies, or realign our organization and staffing to better match our market opportunities and our technology development initiatives. We may take similar steps in the future as we seek to realize operating synergies, to achieve our target operating model and profitability objectives, or to reflect more closely changes in the strategic direction of our business. These changes could be disruptive to our business, including our research and development efforts, and could result in

Our future success and ability to maintain a technology leadership position depends upon our ability to recruit and retain the services of executive, engineering, sales and marketing, and support personnel. Competition to attract and retain highly skilled technical, engineering and other personnel with experience in our industry is intense, and our employees have been the subject of targeted hiring by our competitors. Competition is particularly intense in certain jurisdictions where we have research and development centers, including the Silicon Valley area of northern California, and we may experience difficulty retaining and motivating existing employees and attracting qualified personnel to fill key positions. There can be no assurance that the programs, initiatives, rewards and recognition that are part of our annual “people strategy” will be successful in attracting and retaining the talent necessary to execute on our business plans. Because we rely on equity awards as a significant component of compensation, particularly for our executive team, a lack of positive performance in our stock price, reduced grant levels, or changes to our compensation program may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain key employees. In addition, none of our executive officers is bound by an employment agreement for any specific term. We have a number of workforce planning initiatives underway and our failure to manage these programs effectively could result in the loss of key personnel. Similarly, the failure to properly manage the necessary knowledge transfer required from these employee transitions could impact our ability to maintain industry and innovation leadership. The loss of members of our management team or other key personnel, including due to COVID-19, could be disruptive to our business and, were it necessary, it could be difficult to replace such individuals. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, we may be unable to manage our business effectively, and our operations and financial results could suffer.

In addition, a number of our team members are foreign nationals who rely on visas or work-entry permits in order to legally work in the United States and other countries. Changes in government policy and global events such as pandemics may interfere with our ability to hire or retain personnel who require these visas or entry permits. For example, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States suspended entry of certain foreign nationals, which could impact our ability to attract, develop, integrate and retain highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications from other countries. Numerous U.S. Embassies have suspended the processing of new visa applications for a period of time during 2020 due to COVID-19 related concerns impacting Embassy operations and staffing. In addition, on April 22, 2020, in a stated effort to protect Americans from competition from foreign workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. President signed an executive order to pause for 60 days the issuance of immigrant visas issued at U.S. embassies to enter the United States, and on June 22, 2020 extended the pause and added restrictions on the issuance of several categories of temporary visas through at least the end of the calendar year, including restrictions on new H-1B visas for certain skilled workers and new L-1 visas for intracompany transfers of executives/managers and specialized knowledge persons such as those employed in information technology and engineering, subject to certain exceptions. Additional changes in immigration policy, including the implementation of restrictive interpretations by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of regulatory requirements for H-1B, L-1 and other U.S. work visa categories, may also adversely affect our ability to hire or retain key talent, which could have an impact on our business operations.

We generally rely on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret laws to establish and maintain proprietary rights in our products and technology. Although we have been issued numerous patents, and other patent applications are currently pending, there can be no assurance that any of these patents or other proprietary rights will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or that our rights will provide us with any competitive advantage. In addition, there can be no assurance that patents will be issued for our pending applications or that claims allowed on any patents will be sufficiently broad to protect our technology. Further, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States.

We are subject to the risk that third parties may attempt to access, divert or use our intellectual property without authorization. Protecting against the unauthorized use of our products, technology and other proprietary rights is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, and we cannot be certain that the steps that we are taking will detect, prevent or minimize the risks of such unauthorized use. In addition, our intellectual property strategy must continually evolve to protect our proprietary rights in new solutions, including our software solutions. Litigation may be necessary to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights or to determine the validity or scope of the proprietary rights of others. Such litigation could result in substantial cost and

From time to time third parties may assert claims or initiate litigation or other proceedings related to patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights to technologies and related standards that are relevant to our business. We have been subject to several claims related to patent infringement, and we have been requested to indemnify customers pursuant to contractual indemnity obligations relating to infringement claims made by third parties. The rate of infringement assertions by patent assertion entities is increasing, particularly in the United States. Generally, these patent owners neither manufacture nor use the patented invention directly, and they seek to derive value from their ownership solely through royalties from patent licensing programs.

We could be adversely affected by litigation, other proceedings or claims against us, as well as claims against our manufacturers, suppliers or customers, alleging infringement of third-party proprietary rights by our products and technology, or components thereof. Regardless of the merit of these claims, they can be time-consuming, divert the time and attention of our technical and management personnel, and result in costly litigation or otherwise require us to incur substantial costs, including legal fees. These claims, if successful, could require us to:

We integrate third-party software and other technology into our operating system, network management, and intelligent automation software and other products. As a result, we may be required to license certain software or technology from third parties, including competitors. Licenses for software or other technology may not be available or may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms. Third-party licensors may insist on unreasonable financial or other terms in connection with our use of such technology. Our failure to comply with the terms of any license may result in our inability to continue to use such license, which may result in significant costs, harm our market opportunities and require us to obtain or develop a substitute technology.

Some of our solutions, including our Blue Planet Automation Software, utilize elements of open source or publicly available software. As network operators seek to enhance programmability and automation of networks, we expect that we and other communications networking solutions vendors will increasingly contribute to and use technology or open source software developed by standards settings bodies or other industry forums that seek to promote the integration of network layers and functions. The terms of such licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products. This increases our risks associated with our use of such software and may require us to seek licenses from third parties, to re-engineer our products or to discontinue the sale of such solutions. Difficulty obtaining and maintaining technology licenses with third parties may disrupt development of our products, increase our costs and adversely affect our business.

In the ordinary course of our business, we maintain on our network systems, and on the networks of our third-party providers, certain information that is confidential, proprietary or otherwise sensitive in nature. This information includes

In the course of our business, we are, and in the future may be, a party to legal proceedings, investigations and other claims or disputes, which have related and may relate to subjects including commercial transactions, intellectual property, securities, employee relations, or compliance with applicable laws and regulations. A description of certain of these types of matters can be found in Note 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of Part II of this report. Legal proceedings and investigations are inherently uncertain and we cannot predict their duration, scope, outcome or consequences. There can be no assurance that these or any such matters that have been or may in the future be brought against us will be resolved favorably. In connection with any government investigations, in the event the government takes action against us or the parties resolve or settle the matter, we may be required to pay substantial fines or civil and criminal penalties and/or be subject to equitable remedies, including disgorgement or injunctive relief. Other legal or regulatory proceedings, including lawsuits filed by private litigants, may also follow as a consequence. These matters are likely to be expensive and time-consuming to defend, settle and/or resolve, and may require us to implement certain remedial measures that could prove costly or disruptive to our business and operations. They may also cause damage to our business reputation. The unfavorable resolution of one or more of these matters could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

The United States and various foreign governments have established certain trade and tariff requirements under which we have implemented a global approach to the sourcing and manufacture of our products, as well as distribution and fulfillment to customers around the world. Recently, the U.S. government has indicated a willingness to revise, renegotiate, or terminate various existing multilateral trade agreements and to impose new taxes on certain goods imported into the U.S. Because we rely on a global sourcing strategy and third-party contract manufacturers in markets outside of the U.S. to perform substantially all of the manufacturing of our products, such steps, if adopted, could adversely impact our business and operations, increase our costs, and make our products less competitive in the U.S. and other markets. 

For example, the U.S. government has previously threatened to undertake a number of actions relating to trade with Mexico, including the closure of the border and the imposition of escalating tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico. A substantial portion of our products are manufactured and distributed by third-party contract manufacturers in Mexico. If adopted, such actions could adversely impact our business and significantly disrupt our operations. These actions may also make our products less competitive in the United States and other markets. In addition, the U.S. government reached a new trade agreement with the Canadian and Mexican governments to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”), which entered into force on July 1, 2020. There can be no assurance that the ongoing transition from NAFTA to the USMCA will not adversely impact our business or disrupt our operations.

In addition, our supply chain includes certain direct and indirect suppliers based in China who supply goods to us, our manufacturers or our third-party suppliers. Recently, there have been a number of significant geopolitical events, including trade

Government regulation of usage, import or export of our products, or our technology within our products, changes in that regulation, or our failure to obtain required approvals for our products, could harm our international and domestic sales and adversely affect our revenue and costs of sales. Failure to comply with such regulations could result in enforcement actions, fines, penalties or restrictions on export privileges. In addition, costly tariffs on our equipment, restrictions on importation, trade protection measures and domestic preference requirements of certain countries could limit our access to these markets and harm our sales. These regulations could adversely affect the sale or use of our products, substantially increase our cost of sales and adversely affect our business and revenue.

The Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) has jurisdiction over the U.S. communications industry, and similar agencies have jurisdiction over the communication industries in other countries. Many of our largest customers, including service providers and cable and multiservice network operators, are subject to the rules and regulations of these agencies, while others participate in and benefit from government-funded programs that encourage the development of network infrastructures. These regulatory requirements and funding programs are subject to changes that may adversely impact our customers, with resulting adverse impacts on our business.

In December 2017, the FCC voted to roll back its 2015 order regulating broadband internet service providers as telecommunications service carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. This decision, which was reaffirmed and updated in October 2020 following a partial remand and reversal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, repeals net neutrality regulations that prohibit blocking, degrading or prioritizing certain types of internet traffic and restores the light touch regulatory treatment of broadband service in place prior to 2015. Although the FCC’s initial decision has preempted state jurisdiction on net neutrality, the U.S. Court of Appeals decision vacated the specific preemption provision in the 2017 order. At least two states, Montana and New York, took executive action directed at reinstating aspects of the FCC’s 2015 order even prior to the U.S. Court of Appeals decision. In addition, in September 2018, California passed legislation that seeks to reestablish net neutrality. Changes in regulatory requirements or uncertainty associated with the regulatory environment could delay or serve as a disincentive to investment in network infrastructures by network operators, which could adversely affect the sale of our products and services. Similarly, changes in regulatory tariff requirements or other regulations relating to pricing or terms of carriage on communications networks could slow the development or expansion of network infrastructures and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

In October 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled against an industry group of India service providers in a long-standing dispute over the calculation of license and other regulatory fees owing to India’s Department of Telecommunications. The ruling has resulted in the possibility of significant near-term liability among these service providers, which include our customers, for amounts owing to India’s Department of Telecommunications in relation to these revenue-based license fees along with certain penalties and interest. There can be no assurance that this ruling, the resulting license fee interpretation and amounts owing, will not adversely affect spending by these customers or our business or sales in India.

Separately, certain of our Web-scale customers have been the subject of regulatory and other government actions, including inquiries and investigations, formal or informal, by competition authorities in the United States, Europe and other jurisdictions. In July 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would commence an antitrust review into significant online technology platforms, and in September 2019, various state attorneys general announced antitrust investigations involving

Our operations are regulated under various federal, state, local and international laws relating to the environment and climate change. If we were to violate or become liable under these laws or regulations, we could incur fines, costs related to damage to property or personal injury and costs related to investigation or remediation activities. Our product design efforts and the manufacturing of our products are also subject to evolving requirements relating to the presence of certain materials or substances in our equipment, including regulations that make producers for such products financially responsible for the collection, treatment and recycling of certain products. For example, our operations and financial results may be negatively affected by environmental regulations, such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) that have been adopted by the EU. Compliance with these and similar environmental regulations may increase our cost of designing, manufacturing, selling and removing our products. The SEC requires disclosure regarding the use of “conflict minerals” mined from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries (the “DRC”) and disclosure with respect to procedures regarding a manufacturer’s efforts to prevent the sourcing of such minerals from the DRC. Certain of these minerals are present in our products. SEC rules implementing these requirements may have the effect of reducing the pool of suppliers that can supply “conflict free” components and parts, and we may not be able to obtain conflict free products or supplies in sufficient quantities for our operations. Because our supply chain is complex, we may face reputational challenges with our customers, stockholders and other stakeholders if we are unable to verify sufficiently the origins for the “conflict minerals” used in our products and cannot assert that our products are “conflict free.” Environmental or similar social initiatives may also make it difficult to obtain supply of compliant components or may require us to write off non-compliant inventory, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles, or interpretations thereof. The impact of income taxes on our business can also be affected by a number of items relating to our business. These may include estimates for and the actual geographic mix of our earnings; changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets; the use or expiration of net operating losses or research and development credit arrangements applicable to us in certain geographies; and changes in our methodology for transfer pricing, valuing developed technology or conducting intercompany arrangements. On December 22, 2017, the Tax Act was signed into law and introduced significant changes to U.S. federal corporate tax law. These changes include a reduction to the federal corporate income tax rate, the current taxation of certain foreign earnings, the imposition of base-erosion prevention measures which may limit the deductions relating to certain intercompany transactions, and possible limitations on the deductibility of net interest expense or corporate debt obligations. Accounting for the income tax effects of the Tax Act requires significant judgments and estimates that are based on then current interpretations of the Tax Act and could be affected by changing interpretations of the Tax Act, as

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that we include in our annual report a report containing management’s assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year and a statement as to whether or not such internal controls are effective. Compliance with these requirements has resulted in, and is likely to continue to result in, significant costs and the commitment of time and operational resources. Certain ongoing initiatives, including efforts to transform business processes or to transition certain functions to third-party resources or providers, will necessitate modifications to our internal control systems, processes and related information systems as we optimize our business and operations. Our expansion into new regions could pose further challenges to our internal control systems. We cannot be certain that our current design for internal control over financial reporting, or any additional changes to be made, will be sufficient to enable management to determine that our internal controls are effective for any period, or on an ongoing basis. If we are unable to assert that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, market perception of our financial condition and the trading price of our stock may be adversely affected, and customer perception of our business may suffer.

Our common stock price has experienced substantial volatility in the past and may remain volatile in the future. Volatility in our stock price can arise as a result of a number of the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section. During fiscal 2020, our closing stock price ranged from a high of $60.99 per share to a low of $34.50 per share. The stock market has experienced significant price and volume fluctuation that has affected the market price of many technology companies, with such volatility often unrelated to the operating performance of these companies. Divergence between our actual results and our forward-looking guidance for such results, the published expectations of investment analysts, or the expectations of the market generally, can cause significant swings in our stock price. Our stock price can also be affected by market conditions in our industry as well as announcements that we, our competitors, vendors or our customers may make. These may include announcements by us or our competitors of financial results or changes in estimated financial results, technological innovations, the gain or loss of customers, or other strategic initiatives. Our common stock is also included in certain market indices, and any change in the composition of these indices to exclude our company would adversely affect our stock price. These and other factors affecting macroeconomic conditions or financial markets may materially adversely affect the market price of our common stock in the future.

We are a party to credit agreements relating to a $300 million senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility and an outstanding senior secured term loan with approximately $687.8 million repayable at maturity in fiscal 2025. The agreements governing these credit facilities contain certain covenants that limit our ability, among other things, to incur additional debt, create liens and encumbrances, pay cash dividends, redeem or repurchase stock, enter into certain acquisition transactions or transactions with affiliates, repay certain indebtedness, make investments, or dispose of assets. The agreements also include customary remedies, including the right of the lenders to take action with respect to the collateral securing the loans, that would apply should we default or otherwise be unable to satisfy our debt obligations.

Our indebtedness could have important negative consequences, including:

We may also enter into additional debt transactions or credit facilities, including equipment loans, working capital lines of credit, senior notes and other long-term debt, which may increase our indebtedness and result in additional restrictions on our business. In addition, major debt rating agencies regularly evaluate our debt based on a number of factors. There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain our existing debt ratings, and failure to do so could adversely affect our cost of funds, liquidity and access to capital markets.

We refer to our complete portfolio vision as the Adaptive Network. The Adaptive Network emphasizes a programmable network infrastructure, software control and automation capabilities, network analytics and intelligence, and related advanced services. By transforming network infrastructures into a dynamic, programmable environment driven by automation and analytics, network operators can realize greater business agility, dynamically adapt to changing end-user service demands and rapidly introduce new revenue-generating services. They can also gain valuable real-time network insights, allowing them to optimize network operation and maximize the return on their network infrastructure investment.

Generally, we make sales pursuant to purchase orders placed by customers under framework agreements that govern the general commercial terms and conditions of the sale of our products and services. These agreements do not obligate customers to purchase any minimum or guaranteed order quantities. Moreover, we are periodically awarded business for new network opportunities or network upgrades following a selection process. In calculating backlog, we only include (i) customer purchase orders for products that have not been shipped and for services that have not yet been performed; and (ii) customer orders relating to products that have been delivered and services that have been performed, but are awaiting customer acceptance under the applicable contract terms. Generally, our customers may cancel or change their orders with limited advance notice, or they may decide not to accept our products and services, although instances of both cancellation and non-acceptance are rare. Backlog may be fulfilled several quarters following receipt of a purchase order, or in the case of certain service obligations, may relate to multi-year support period. As a result, backlog should not necessarily be viewed as an accurate indicator of future revenue for any particular period.

Our backlog was $1.19 billion as of October 31, 2020 as compared to $1.21 billion as of November 2, 2019. Backlog includes product and service orders from commercial and government customers combined. Backlog at October 31, 2020 includes approximately $193.5 million primarily related to orders for products and maintenance and support services that are not expected to be filled or performed within fiscal 2021. Because backlog can be defined in different ways by different companies, our presentation of backlog may not be comparable with figures presented by other companies in our industry.