v3.26.1
REVENUE
 6 Months Ended
May 02, 2026
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
REVENUE REVENUE
Segment and Product Line Disaggregation of Revenue

Ciena’s disaggregated segment and product line revenue as presented below depicts the nature, amount, and timing of revenue and cash flows for similar groupings of Ciena’s various offerings. The sales cycle, contractual obligations, customer requirements, and go-to-market strategies may differ for each of its product categories, resulting in different economic risk profiles for each category. Ciena has the following operating segments for reporting purposes: (i) Networking Platforms; (ii) Platform Software and Services; (iii) Blue Planet Automation Software and Services; and (iv) Global Services. See Note 17 below.

The tables below set forth Ciena’s disaggregated revenue for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Quarter Ended May 2, 2026
Networking PlatformsPlatform Software and ServicesBlue Planet Automation Software and ServicesGlobal ServicesTotal
Product lines:
Optical Networking$1,099,848 $— $— $— $1,099,848 
Routing and Switching174,230 — — — 174,230 
Platform Software and Services
— 93,878 — — 93,878 
Blue Planet Automation Software and Services
— — 23,361 — 23,361 
Maintenance, Support, and Learning— — — 89,286 89,286 
Implementation— — — 79,702 79,702 
Advisory and Enablement— — — 10,434 10,434 
Total revenue by product line
$1,274,078 $93,878 $23,361 $179,422 $1,570,739 
Timing of revenue recognition:
Products and services at a point in time
$1,274,078 $29,413 $8,487 $21,543 $1,333,521 
Services transferred over time— 64,465 14,874 157,879 237,218 
Total revenue by timing of revenue recognition
$1,274,078 $93,878 $23,361 $179,422 $1,570,739 

Quarter Ended May 3, 2025
Networking PlatformsPlatform Software and ServicesBlue Planet Automation Software and ServicesGlobal ServicesTotal
Product lines:
Optical Networking$773,592 $— $— $— $773,592 
Routing and Switching92,723 — — — 92,723 
Platform Software and Services
— 85,441 — — 85,441 
Blue Planet Automation Software and Services
— — 27,951 — 27,951 
Maintenance, Support, and Learning— — — 79,442 79,442 
Implementation— — — 58,174 58,174 
Advisory and Enablement— — — 8,555 8,555 
Total revenue by product line
$866,315 $85,441 $27,951 $146,171 $1,125,878 
Timing of revenue recognition:
Products and services at a point in time
$866,315 $22,048 $10,511 $7,844 $906,718 
Services transferred over time
— 63,393 17,440 138,327 219,160 
Total revenue by timing of revenue recognition
$866,315 $85,441 $27,951 $146,171 $1,125,878 
Six Months Ended May 2, 2026
Networking PlatformsPlatform Software and ServicesBlue Planet Automation Software and ServicesGlobal ServicesTotal
Product lines:
Optical Networking$2,123,010 $— $— $— $2,123,010 
Routing and Switching300,236 — — — 300,236 
Platform Software and Services
— 187,262 — — 187,262 
Blue Planet Automation Software and Services
— — 43,781 — 43,781 
Maintenance, Support, and Learning— — — 176,837 176,837 
Implementation— — — 147,650 147,650 
Advisory and Enablement— — — 19,005 19,005 
Total revenue by product line
$2,423,246 $187,262 $43,781 $343,492 $2,997,781 
Timing of revenue recognition:
Products and services at a point in time
$2,423,246 $58,596 $10,381 $38,430 $2,530,653 
Services transferred over time— 128,666 33,400 305,062 467,128 
Total revenue by timing of revenue recognition
$2,423,246 $187,262 $43,781 $343,492 $2,997,781 

Six Months Ended May 3, 2025
Networking PlatformsPlatform Software and ServicesBlue Planet Automation Software and ServicesGlobal ServicesTotal
Product lines:
Optical Networking$1,501,566 $— $— $— $1,501,566 
Routing and Switching185,892 — — — 185,892 
Platform Software and Services
— 180,508 — — 180,508 
Blue Planet Automation Software and Services
— — 53,982 — 53,982 
Maintenance, Support, and Learning— — — 154,014 154,014 
Implementation— — — 105,857 105,857 
Advisory and Enablement— — — 16,319 16,319 
Total revenue by product line
$1,687,458 $180,508 $53,982 $276,190 $2,198,138 
Timing of revenue recognition:
Products and services at a point in time
$1,687,458 $50,979 $20,937 $13,977 $1,773,351 
Services transferred over time
— 129,529 33,045 262,213 424,787 
Total revenue by timing of revenue recognition
$1,687,458 $180,508 $53,982 $276,190 $2,198,138 


•Networking Platforms revenue reflects sales of Ciena’s Optical Networking and Routing and Switching product lines.
•Optical Networking - includes the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, the Waveserver® system, the 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), coherent pluggable transceivers, and other optical networking products. These products are often combined and sold as solutions that address network applications including cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) networking, datacenter interconnect, long haul, metro, submarine connectivity, and managed optical fiber networks (MOFN).
•Routing and Switching - includes the 3000 family of service delivery platforms and 5000 family of service aggregation platforms, the 8100 Coherent IP networking platforms, virtualization software, and other routing and switching portfolio products. Ciena also uses certain of these products to create its out-of-band data center management (DCOM) solutions.
Revenue from this segment is included in product revenue on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

•Platform Software and Services revenue reflects sales of Ciena’s Platform Software and Platform Services.
•Platform Software - includes Ciena’s Navigator Network Control SuiteTM domain controller solution and its applications, and legacy software solutions.
•Platform Services - includes subscription, support, and consulting services related to Ciena’s software platforms, operating system software and enhanced software features embedded in each of the Networking Platforms product lines above.

Revenue from the software portion of this segment is included in product revenue on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. Revenue from the services portion of this segment is included in services revenue on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

•Blue Planet Automation Software and Services revenue reflects sales of Blue Planet Automation Software and Blue Planet Services.
•Blue Planet Automation Software - includes inventory management, orchestration, route optimization and analysis, and unified assurance and analytics software.
•Blue Planet Services - includes subscription, installation, support, consulting and design services related to the Blue Planet Automation Platform.

Revenue from the software portion of this segment is included in product revenue on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. Revenue from the services portion of this segment is included in services revenue on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

•Global Services revenue reflects sales of a broad range of Ciena’s services for advisory and enablement, implementation, and maintenance, support, and learning activities.
Revenue from this segment is included in services revenue on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Revenue Recognition
•Revenue from the Networking Platforms segment includes, in addition to the products described above, sales of operating system software and enhanced software features embedded therein, which are each considered distinct performance obligations for which the revenue is generally recognized upfront at a point in time upon transfer of control.
•Revenue from software platforms typically reflects either perpetual or term-based software licenses, and these sales are considered distinct performance obligations where revenue is generally recognized upfront at a point in time upon transfer of control.
•Revenue from software subscription and support is recognized ratably over the period during which the services are performed.
•Revenue from professional services for customization, consulting, and design services relating to Ciena’s software offerings is recognized over time with Ciena applying the input method to determine the amount of revenue to be recognized in a given period.
•Revenue from maintenance and support is recognized ratably over the period during which the services are performed.
•Revenue from implementation services and advisory and enablement services is generally recognized over time with Ciena applying the input method to determine the amount of revenue to be recognized in a given period.
•Revenue from learning services is generally recognized at a point in time upon completion of the service.

For additional information on Ciena’s revenue recognition policy, see “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of Part II of the 2025 Annual Report.

Geographic Disaggregation of Revenue
Ciena reports its sales geographically using 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, Ciena maintains specific teams or personnel that focus on a particular region, country, customer, or market vertical. These teams include sales management, account salespersons, and sales engineers, as well as services professionals and commercial management personnel. The following table reflects Ciena’s geographic distribution of revenue principally based on the relevant location for Ciena’s delivery of products and performance of services.

For the periods indicated, Ciena’s geographic distribution of revenue was as follows (in thousands):
Quarter EndedSix Months Ended
May 2,May 3,May 2,May 3,
2026202520262025
Geographic distribution:
Americas
$1,202,214 $833,822 $2,320,437 $1,629,454 
EMEA
196,037 191,585 396,625 349,501 
APAC172,488 100,471 280,719 219,183 
Total revenue by geographic distribution
$1,570,739 $1,125,878 $2,997,781 $2,198,138 

Ciena’s revenue includes $1.2 billion and $0.8 billion of U.S. revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. For the six months ended May 2, 2026 and May 3, 2025, U.S. revenue was $2.2 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively. No other country accounted for 10% or more of total revenue for the periods indicated in the above table.

For the periods indicated, the only customers that accounted for 10% or more of total revenue were as follows (in thousands):
Quarter EndedSix Months Ended
May 2,May 3,May 2,May 3,
2026202520262025
Cloud provider A$321,224 $151,345 $652,206 $320,242 
Cloud provider B212,288 n/a*372,493 n/a*
Service provider n/a*117,355 n/a*228,379 
Total$533,512 $268,700 $1,024,699 $548,621 
*Denotes revenue representing less than 10% of total revenue for the indicated period

The 10% customers included in the table above purchased products from Ciena’s Networking Platforms, Platform Software and Services, and Global Services operating segments for each of the periods presented.

Contract Balances

The following table provides information about receivables, contract assets and contract liabilities (deferred revenue) from contracts with customers (in thousands):
Balance at May 2, 2026Balance at November 1, 2025
Accounts receivable, net $1,052,569 $975,856 
Long-term accounts receivable$21,265 $28,610 
Deferred revenue$340,487 $303,786 
Contract assets for unbilled accounts receivable, net$163,614 $157,868 

Ciena’s long-term accounts receivable represent unbilled receivables attributable to non-cancellable software licenses recognized as revenue when made available to customers, to be billed in the future.
Ciena’s contract assets represent unbilled accounts receivable, net where transfer of a product or service has occurred but invoicing is conditional upon completion of future performance obligations. These amounts are primarily related to implementation and professional services arrangements where transfer of control has occurred, but Ciena has not yet invoiced the customer. Contract assets are included in prepaid expenses and other in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Contract liabilities consist of deferred revenue and represent advanced payments against non-cancelable customer orders received prior to revenue recognition. Ciena recognized approximately $149.6 million and $111.3 million of revenue during the first six months of fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively, that was included in the deferred revenue balance as of November 1, 2025 and November 2, 2024, respectively. Revenue recognized due to changes in transaction price from performance obligations satisfied or partially satisfied in previous periods was immaterial during the six months ended May 2, 2026 and May 3, 2025.

As of the dates indicated, deferred revenue is comprised of the following (in thousands):
May 2,
2026		November 1,
2025
Products$31,649 $65,382 
Services308,838 238,404 
 Total deferred revenue340,487 303,786 
Less current portion(238,380)(208,936)
Long-term deferred revenue$102,107 $94,850 

Capitalized Contract Acquisition Costs

Capitalized contract acquisition costs consist of deferred sales commissions and were $35.5 million and $37.4 million as of May 2, 2026 and November 1, 2025, respectively. Capitalized contract acquisition costs were included in (i) prepaid expenses and other, and (ii) other long-term assets. The amortization expense associated with these costs was $19.7 million and $16.7 million during the first six months of fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively, and was included in selling and marketing expense on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Remaining Performance Obligations
Remaining Performance Obligations (“RPO”) are comprised of non-cancelable customer purchase orders for products and services that are awaiting transfer of control for revenue recognition under the applicable contract terms. The timing of fulfillment of remaining performance obligations can be impacted by supply conditions. As of May 2, 2026, the aggregate amount of RPO was $2.5 billion. The majority of Ciena’s performance obligations will be satisfied within a year and any remaining performance obligations are typically recognized within three years.