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Tellabs history
Tellabs company history timeline
Family members supported the new company by going back to work, mortgaging homes, cleaning Tellabs' offices on weekends--even posing as assembly line workers when potential customers were taken through the 'plant.' By December 1975, Tellabs was enjoying a bit of success.
By 1977, Tellabs was able to move into a permanent facility in Lisle, Illinois, and its sales force had quadrupled to eight.
Tellabs' expansion continued with the opening of its first subsidiary, Tellabs Communications Canada, Ltd., in 1979.
The company went public in July 1980, ending the year with sales of $43.7 million.
In September 1981, Tellabs introduced the industry's first echo canceller, an advance over the original echo suppressors that synthesized an echo and electronically subtracted it.
1982: Tellabs introduces the telecommunications industry's first viable echo canceler system.
In 1983, with the opening of Tellabs' fourth facility in Puerto Rico, it seemed Tellabs' growth would continue uninterrupted.
Then, in 1984, the monolithic Bell System was dissolved, and several regional 'Baby Bell' companies emerged.
Annual sales surpassed $100 million in 1985.
Sales for 1987 rose 18 percent to $136.1 million; net income rose 27 percent to $10.7 million.
By 1988, Tellabs had opened sales offices in London, Australia, and Hong Kong and had expanded its Canadian operations.
In 1989, the company made a significant step towards increasing its European presence with the acquisition of Delta Communications in Shannon, Ireland.
New Products and Soaring Sales: 1991-99
In 1991, the company took a new direction, releasing its SONET-based TITAN 5500 digital cross-connect system.
By 1992, Tellabs' foreign sales network expanded to cover Belgium, New Zealand, Korea, and Mexico, where government monopolies on telecommunications systems were beginning to dissolve.
By 1993, the TITAN accounted for over $80 million of Tellabs' annual revenues.
By 1994, the TITAN could manage 688,000 simultaneous phone calls.
Tellabs was ideally situated to capitalize on the industry's ongoing fluctuations. For example, Tellabs teamed up with Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc., and introduced the CABLESPAN 2300 Universal Telephony Distribution System in 1994.
Fueled by its growth, Tellabs' revenues topped $1 billion for the first time in 1997.
In June 1998, Tellabs announced that it was purchasing Ciena Corp. for about $7.1 billion.
In August 1998 it purchased Coherent Communications, a leader in the echo canceler field.
The company was headquartered in suburban Naperville by 2000, boasting $4 billion in revenues and 8,000 employees around the world, almost half of those in Chicago.
The company acquired Future Networks Inc. in March 2001, thereby entering more deeply into the data transmission sector.
Krish Prabhu, former chief operating officer of Alcatel, took over as CEO in February 2004.
Tellabs acquired two companies in 2004.
In January 2008, Tellabs announced that it was cutting 225 jobs during the year.
Prabhu stepped down in March 2008 for personal reasons; Birck praised him at his departure.
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.
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.
In 2013, Tellabs was acquired by Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment company.
On October 11, 2017, it was announced that Jim Norrod had been named president and CEO of Tellabs, following the retirement of Mike Dagenais.
In December 2019, Tellabs announced that Rich Schroder had been appointed president and Chief Executive Officer.
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Tellabs competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tekelec | 1971 | $424.0M | 1,140 | - |
| Verizon Communications | 1983 | $134.8B | 132,200 | 85 |
| Telcordia Technologies | - | - | 300 | - |
| Scientific Atlanta | 1951 | $1.9B | 9,784 | - |
| IBM | 1911 | $62.8B | 270,000 | 2,290 |
| AT&T | 1983 | $122.3B | 230,000 | 3,846 |
| Motorola Solutions | 1928 | $10.8B | 18,000 | 586 |
| HP | 1939 | $53.6B | 53,000 | 570 |
| Ciena | 1992 | $4.0B | 7,000 | 54 |
| ADTRAN | 1985 | $529.0M | 2,001 | 33 |
Tellabs history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Tellabs, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Tellabs. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Tellabs. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Tellabs. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Tellabs and its employees or that of Zippia.
Tellabs may also be known as or be related to Tellabs, Tellabs Broadband LLC, Tellabs Inc, Tellabs KK and Tellabs, Inc.