The company said the transaction will include substantially all product platforms, patents and intellectual property that are predominantly used in Nortel's optical networking and carrier Ethernet business as well as the customer contracts.

As part of the deal, a minimum of 2,000 Nortel employees will receive offers of employment from Ciena, which currently represents more than 85% of the employee base of the acquired business.

Gary Smith, president and CEO at Ciena, said: "Nortel's Optical and Carrier Ethernet assets are well-respected in the industry, as evidenced by strong customer relationships across the globe. By combining these assets with Ciena's existing resources, our collective customer base will be able to rely on one of the largest and most innovative companies strategically focused on converged Ethernet networking."

In September, the company announced a strategic partnership with Canadian communications solutions company MTS Allstream to launch the next generation of managed wavelength services across Canada. Last year, it acquired privately held Ethernet applications provider World Wide Packets for approximately $285m to accelerate the implementation and time-to-market of its carrier Ethernet portfolio.

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