2003 to present
In 2003, Tellabs began offering residential Broadband PON in a partnership with Verizon FiOS. Krish Prabhu, former chief operating officer of Alcatel took over as CEO in February 2004. Prabhu saw opportunities as Internet usage grew demanding faster connections as well as video and better VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calling.[7] Tellabs acquired two companies in 2004. They purchased Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC), a provider of broadband access solutions with a customer base of more than 800 service providers worldwide at the time of the merger in a deal worth $1.9 billion[8] and Marconi Communications North American Access, which sold fiber-access services to regional Bell operating companies and local exchange carriers.[9] At the time of the merger, Marconi had a customer base that included many of the world's largest telecommunications operators, managing more than 4 million lines of capacity and about 1 million deployed lines.[9] By 2007, nearly half of Tellabs' revenue came from products added since 2003.[10]
Prabhu also presided over more cutbacks as the telecom industry continued to struggle. In January 2008, Tellabs announced that it was cutting 225 jobs during the year. This would leave Tellabs with about 3,500 jobs, down from a peak of 9,000 during the boom in 2001. Prabhu stepped down in March 2008 for personal reasons; Birck praised him at his departure.[11] Tellabs internally promoted Robert W. Pullen, who had 23 years of varied experience at Tellabs, to succeed Prabhu as chief executive and president effective March 1, 2008. He was the chairman of the executive board of the Telecommunications Industry Association.[12] In 2009 Tellabs acquired WiChorus, a San-Jose based Silicon Valley start-up with a mobile packet core platform, a decision that led to the decline of their data business.[13] After Pullen was hospitalized in June 2012 due to cancer, Dan Kelly was appointed acting CEO and president; Kelly later assumed the full offices in November 2012, following Pullen's death. Kelly had previously served as executive vice president of global products and had worked with the company for over 25 years.[14]
In 2013, Tellabs was acquired by Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment company.[15] Marlin announced plans to establish an independent business for the Tellabs Access product portfolio, aiming to accelerate Tellabs' development of Optical local area network (OLAN) technology. Marlin announced it would target OLAN to Enterprise and Government agencies, while continuing to support and expand its Telecommunications portfolio.[16] The Optical Transport, Metro Ethernet and Mobility business units of Tellabs were spun off into Coriant, a separate company owned by Marlin Equity.[17] Mike Dagenais, an industry veteran who had previously served as CEO of Radisys Corporation and as president and CEO of Continuous Computing, was tapped to head Tellabs as president and CEO.[16] The focus of Tellabs is now OLAN technology. OLAN uses fiber, which is faster, more secure, and more stable in comparison to traditional copper infrastructure.[18] For service providers, Tellabs Access Platforms provide Broadband access to more than 5 million homes in North America.[19]
In December 2019, Tellabs announced that Rich Schroder had been appointed president and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Schroder has held numerous positions within Tellabs and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer. Schroder is a telecom industry veteran with past experience running global multi-site organizations in Asia, Europe and across the U.S. on behalf of AFC, Marconi, RELTEC, DSC and Siemens.[21]
