Ciena Corporation has acquired Packet Design, a provider of network performance management software focused on Layer 3 network optimisation, topology and route analytics.
Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Packet Design in this transaction.
The acquisition of Packet Design helps accelerate Ciena’s Blue Planet software strategy by extending its intelligent automation capabilities beyond Layers 0-2 and into IP with critical new capabilities to help customers optimise service delivery and maximise network utilisation. Specifically, the combination of the Blue Planet software platform and Packet Design’s performance analytics and service path computation capabilities forms a distinct micro-services-based platform delivering real-time analytics, optimisation and orchestration capabilities to support the broadest range of closed-loop automation use cases across multi-layer, multi-vendor networks.
Scott Sherwood, Packet Design’s CEO, says: “Drake Star’s extensive knowledge of the networking solutions market together with an understanding of our analytic and automation capabilities led them to find the right partner for us in Ciena.”
“This was an opportunity where we represented the investor group, which was led by Lone Rock Technology Group and S3 Ventures, in acquiring Packet Design back in 2013. That team then revamped the business and technology, creating a unique value proposition around SDN and analytics, which in turn enabled Drake Star to identify and connect them with Ciena as the right partner,” says Michael Rosenberg, Partner at Drake Star. “The Drake Star team is proud to have supported Packet Design throughout this process and to have found in Ciena the right acquirer.”
