Ciena Buying Two Gear Shops

Ciena (CIEN Quote) reached a pair of deals aimed at expanding its reach in the reviving telecom-equipment business.

The Linthicum, Md., maker of optical communications gear agreed to buy two closely held companies with ties to the big telcos that appear poised to start spending more on their networks. The news comes as Ciena posted a disappointing first-quarter loss, reflecting the company's failure to come up with a hot product for the service provider market.

Ciena will buy Catena Networks, a maker of broadband access systems, for $487 million, and Internet Photonics, a builder of carrier-grade optical Ethernet transport and switching solutions, for $150 million. Both deals are stock swaps. On Thursday morning, Ciena shares slipped 23 cents to $6.05 in premarket trading. ...