Ciena enters Middle East region

The company's regional main office is located in Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Headquartered in Linthicum, Maryland, Ciena offers leading network infrastructure solutions, intelligent software and a comprehensive services practice to service providers, enterprises, governments, as well as research and education organisations across the globe. With existing presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, the new Middle East operation marks a logical next step in the company's continued global growth.

Focused on building a presence in the region, Ciena is assembling a dedicated team of sales and technical support specialists in the region, led by Mr. Ahmad, who recently joined the company. With more than 11 years' experience in the telecoms industry, Mr. Ahmad is tasked with developing Ciena's local presence and voice in the region through both direct sales and strategic alliances with leading systems integrators and services suppliers.

"With a number of significant network build-outs just around the corner and an intrinsic leaning toward best-in-class solutions and technologies, the Middle East is an innovative and promising market for Ciena's global growth strategy. The company's experience in building cutting-edge, next-generation networks for carriers around the world and its innovative portfolio of products and services have already resonated with some of the largest carriers in the region."

said Mashood Ahmad.

Before joining Ciena, Mr. Ahmad spent more than two years in the Middle East as Nortel Networks' Carrier Sales Manager, responsible for the development of relationships with the major carriers in the Gulf region. Prior to that, he served as General Manager of the EMEA Wholesale Group at Japan-headquartered NTT Communications, one of the largest telecoms service providers in the world. Mr. Ahmad's earlier roles included sales and account management at Ebone (later purchased by KPNQwest) and Level 3 Communications.