The Daily Interview: Tellium's CEO on the Optical Switch Market

Tellium (TELM Quote) has a tall order: It wants to escape Ciena's (CIEN Quote) shadow.

Harry Carr Chairman and CEO, Tellium

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The optical switching shop first earned widespread notice when it came public this spring. Founded in 1997 by a bunch of Lucent (LU Quote), AT&T (T Quote) and Telcordia veterans, the optical switch developer didn't make much noise until its May 17 IPO . At Wednesday's close of $19.45, Tellium shares were 30% above their IPO price.

Now that the excitement has died down, Tellium's greatest challenge is to find a way to win business with Ciena dominating the optical switch market. Ciena has 15 customers; Tellium has three: Qwest (Q Quote), Cable & Wireless (CWP Quote) and Dynegy (DYN Quote). ...