leading edge with Dan Kelly,

Q&A

executive vice president, global products, Tellabs

Dan Kelly has been the executive vice president of global products at Tellabs since 2007. Here we ask him about this issue of Insight and more.

We feature 2 European customers in this issue (MTS and Vtesse). Are Tellabs customers in EMEA experiencing the same challenges as other providers around the world? Dan: Yes, they are experiencing the same challenges. These operators are looking for the best way to deliver value to their customers while balancing cost and generating profits in a highly competitive environment. In the case of MTS in Russia, it is expanding its mobile

network to address the growing number of subscribers and explosive mobile Internet use. With Vtesse in the UK, it continues to build out its optical network to meet the expanding bandwidth and service requirements of its business customers.

MTS and Vtesse use the Tellabs® System and the Tellabs®

8600 Managed Edge 7100 Optical Transport System in

their networks, respectively. What are Tellabs’ plans for the mobile backhaul and metro optical markets in 2012? Dan: I expect 2012 to be a successful year for Tellabs in the mobile backhaul and metro optical markets, as we’re coming off a big year in 2011. In mobile backhaul, we serve 200 mobile operators around

the world—including new customers MTS and Megafon in Russia, Orange Moldova, and Yoigo in Spain. The Tellabs® 8609 Access Switch, our new Ethernet mobile backhaul device for cell sites, began to generate revenue in 2011. And

now, customers are testing our new Ethernet mobile backhaul device to aggregation sites, the Tellabs®

In the metro optical market, our customers use the Tellabs

7100 system to deliver mobile, video, Internet and business services. We’re expanding our optical footprint as well—new Tellabs 7100 system customers include Vtesse and CELESTE in Europe, as well as Telmex Chile and UOLDIVEO in Latin America. And I’m excited about the third-generation Tellabs 7100 system, which is in customer trials now.

It’s clear that the mobile Internet is changing the world, and this change is only the beginning. Personally, in what ways do you most often use the mobile Internet? How has it improved your life? Dan: I travel frequently, visiting customers and Tellabs development locations, and I increasingly rely on the mobile Internet. I use my smartphone not only as an extension of my office but for other applications, like location-based services and to assist with itinerary changes. Through my tablet, I use streaming video to stay in touch

with my family. For the little downtime that I have, I stream my favorite TV shows via my tablet, too. We are just at the beginning of the mobile Internet and I expect that there will be many new exciting applications in the future that we haven’t even thought of yet. 

8611 Access Switch.

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