Nilay Patel

Hello and welcome to Decoder. I'm Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. Today I'm talking with Gary Smith, CEO of the networking company Sienna. Now, you are probably not familiar with Ciena. The company isn't a household name. But you have used their products. In fact, every internet user has used their products.

Hello and welcome to Decoder. I'm Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. Today I'm talking with Gary Smith, CEO of the networking company Sienna. Now, you are probably not familiar with Ciena. The company isn't a household name. But you have used their products. In fact, every internet user has used their products.

Hello and welcome to Decoder. I'm Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. Today I'm talking with Gary Smith, CEO of the networking company Sienna. Now, you are probably not familiar with Ciena. The company isn't a household name. But you have used their products. In fact, every internet user has used their products.

Ciena makes the hardware and software that lights up fiber optic cables with data. That's everything from local fiber networks for broadband ISPs to the massive undersea cables that connect continents. In fact, there's a very high probability that this podcast itself came to you over a Ciena-powered network. This company is everywhere. And Gary himself is a fascinating character in this story.

Ciena makes the hardware and software that lights up fiber optic cables with data. That's everything from local fiber networks for broadband ISPs to the massive undersea cables that connect continents. In fact, there's a very high probability that this podcast itself came to you over a Ciena-powered network. This company is everywhere. And Gary himself is a fascinating character in this story.

Ciena makes the hardware and software that lights up fiber optic cables with data. That's everything from local fiber networks for broadband ISPs to the massive undersea cables that connect continents. In fact, there's a very high probability that this podcast itself came to you over a Ciena-powered network. This company is everywhere. And Gary himself is a fascinating character in this story.

He joined Ciena in 1997, the year the company had an astonishingly successful IPO in the middle of the dot-com boom. And he became CEO in 2001, right after the dot-com crash sent the company's stock price and the rest of the economy into a tailspin. So Gary's had a front row seat to the development of the internet as we know it.

He joined Ciena in 1997, the year the company had an astonishingly successful IPO in the middle of the dot-com boom. And he became CEO in 2001, right after the dot-com crash sent the company's stock price and the rest of the economy into a tailspin. So Gary's had a front row seat to the development of the internet as we know it.

He joined Ciena in 1997, the year the company had an astonishingly successful IPO in the middle of the dot-com boom. And he became CEO in 2001, right after the dot-com crash sent the company's stock price and the rest of the economy into a tailspin. So Gary's had a front row seat to the development of the internet as we know it.

And Ciena has been there every step of the way, as telecoms and undersea cables first brought the planet online, all the way to the rise of things like cloud computing and now generative AI. Ciena is built around a core technology, and you're going to hear Gary and I talk about it a lot. It's called WDM, or Wavelength Division Multiplexing.

And Ciena has been there every step of the way, as telecoms and undersea cables first brought the planet online, all the way to the rise of things like cloud computing and now generative AI. Ciena is built around a core technology, and you're going to hear Gary and I talk about it a lot. It's called WDM, or Wavelength Division Multiplexing.

And Ciena has been there every step of the way, as telecoms and undersea cables first brought the planet online, all the way to the rise of things like cloud computing and now generative AI. Ciena is built around a core technology, and you're going to hear Gary and I talk about it a lot. It's called WDM, or Wavelength Division Multiplexing.

And it's absolutely key to how the modern internet works, even though most people have no idea it exists. The basic idea is that WDM uses multiple wavelengths of light to fit more data onto a single fiber optic cable, which allows those cables to deliver more and more information over time.

And it's absolutely key to how the modern internet works, even though most people have no idea it exists. The basic idea is that WDM uses multiple wavelengths of light to fit more data onto a single fiber optic cable, which allows those cables to deliver more and more information over time.

And it's absolutely key to how the modern internet works, even though most people have no idea it exists. The basic idea is that WDM uses multiple wavelengths of light to fit more data onto a single fiber optic cable, which allows those cables to deliver more and more information over time.

You'll hear Gary call it virtualizing a fiber optic cable, like you're turning a single cable into two or five or 10. This is obviously hugely important as the world's internet usage increases and data-hungry applications like video and generative AI ramp up. Ciena didn't invent WDM, but it was the first company to deploy it commercially in the 90s.

You'll hear Gary call it virtualizing a fiber optic cable, like you're turning a single cable into two or five or 10. This is obviously hugely important as the world's internet usage increases and data-hungry applications like video and generative AI ramp up. Ciena didn't invent WDM, but it was the first company to deploy it commercially in the 90s.

You'll hear Gary call it virtualizing a fiber optic cable, like you're turning a single cable into two or five or 10. This is obviously hugely important as the world's internet usage increases and data-hungry applications like video and generative AI ramp up. Ciena didn't invent WDM, but it was the first company to deploy it commercially in the 90s.

And I wanted to know how Gary was managing his investment and pushing that technology forward, and whether he was thinking about the next kind of technology that might disrupt it. I also wanted to know about Ciena's customers. There are only so many companies building deep-sea cables and giant data centers.

And I wanted to know how Gary was managing his investment and pushing that technology forward, and whether he was thinking about the next kind of technology that might disrupt it. I also wanted to know about Ciena's customers. There are only so many companies building deep-sea cables and giant data centers.