Ciena CEO Mulls Telecom Fallout From Possible Conflict - Gary Smith take on September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks - Interview

Many questions remain about how the potential conflict stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will affect the telecom industry. Ciena [CIEN] Chief Executive Officer Gary Smith says it's still too early to gauge the ramifications.

"It depends on what type of actions will be taken," says Smith, who was in a restaurant in Madrid, Spain, at the time of the attacks and found out via cell phone. "I think the only similar situation to compare this to would be the Gulf War, and then we saw a great increase in bandwidth requirements.

"But we'll have to see how this situation plays out. The economic uncertainty isn't helpful to anybody, least of all the telecom industry, which isn't going through the best of times," he added.

Smith, who took over for Pat Nettles as Ciena CEO in May, said any predictions as to what impact the impending military actions will have on the telecom industry is purely speculative. But he did suggest a few possibilities."

One scenario says people will be very patriotic about it and help the whole economy," Smith says. "But then another scenario says people will be paralyzed by the fear of the unknown."

-Evan Bass, ebass@pbimedia.com

For more of this exclusive interview with Gary Smith, see the Oct. 1 issue of Communications Today's sister publication, Fiber Optics News. For more information about PBI Media's telecom pubs, check out our Web site at http://www.telecomweb.com. >TK

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