World Wide Packets will remain in Spokane, WA

Maryland company looks for better quarters for its Spokane Valley operation

World Wide Packets Inc., the Spokane Valley-based company founded by computer networking guru Bernard Daines and sold recently to a Baltimore-area concern for nearly $300 million, says it expects to grow its operations here and is looking for larger quarters.

Early last month, Linthicum, Md.-based Ciena Corp., a maker of network communications infrastructure with about 2,000 employees, acquired World Wide Packets for about $197 million in cash and $88 million in Ciena stock, which is traded publicly on the Nasdaq system. Ciena also assumed about $11 million in World Wide Packets’ debt, for a total acquisition cost of about $296 million.

The Spokane Valley company, which now operates as a subsidiary of Ciena and soon will take on the Ciena name, makes high-speed networking products aimed at telecommunications companies, cable-TV concerns, and government entities. It employed about 180 people prior to the acquisition, including roughly 95 here, and although it’s currently cutting some administrative positions here as a result of the acquisition, it’s also budgeting to rebuild quickly and grow its presence here, says Matt Frey, a Spokane-based senior vice president with Ciena.

By Paul Read

Full Story: http://www.spokanejournal.com/spokane_id=article&sub=3553