Bill Gartner

Senior Vice President/GM

Optical Systems & Optics

Bill Gartner is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Optical Systems and Optics business. In this role, he leads business strategy and development efforts for Cisco’s multibillion-dollar portfolio that includes Optical Systems, Optics, and next-generation architectures (e.g., Routed Optical Networking) that employ pluggable optics. Bill is known for his passion for technology and vision for groundbreaking solutions that help Service Providers and Webscale customers build world-class networks that maximize capacity, flexibility, scalability, and operational efficiencies – all integral to the Internet for the Future. Bill is also a champion of mentoring and career development of female leaders in technology. Throughout his career, Bill has earned a reputation for building trusted customer and business partnerships, with a focus on growth and innovation. Prior to joining Cisco, Bill was Chief Operating Officer of Meriton Networks (acquired by Xtera Networks). Before that, he served as President and COO of Mahi Networks and COO of Photuris. Previously, he was Vice President and General Manager of Lucent's Optical Networking Systems business, responsible for Metro, Access, and Long Haul DWDM products. His earlier tenure in the industry included roles at AT&T Bell Labs and Paradyne. Bill has served on the boards of OptronX (acquired by JDSU) and CyOptics. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and an executive master’s degree in Technology Management from University of Pennsylvania/Wharton. He is a University of Pennsylvania Moore Fellow and holds three patents.

Articles

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Bill Gartner

Optics in the Data Center: Powering Ever-Increasing Capacity Demands

3 min read

There is no end in sight to capacity growth demands as the internet continues to explode. Today's blog looks at trends in the data center and how Cisco's optics technologies deliver solutions that meet our customers’ time to deployment, performance, power and cost expectations.

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Bill Gartner

Data Center Interconnect: Trends, Transitions and How Cisco’s Intent to Acquire Acacia Is a Game Changer for the Futur …

5 min read

Cisco's acquisition of Acacia Communications can help drive industry shifts in Data Center Interconnect (DCI) and Wide Area Networks (WAN) for Metro and Long Haul distances covering 10km to 10,000km.

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Bill Gartner

Cisco Announces Intent to Buy Acacia Communications; Helping Drive Significant Industry Network Architectural Shifts

4 min read

Cisco announces the intent to buy Acacia Communications, a fabless semiconductor company, to build an industry-leading portfolio of optical, silicon, and software technologies to advance intent-based networking.

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Bill Gartner

Cisco Expands 400G and 600G Trials with CENIC

2 min read

Cisco is moving quickly to support customers like CENIC to maximize their network by enabling more bandwidth and flexibility that multi-haul brings.

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Bill Gartner

Cisco NCS 1004 – The Bridge Between Reach and Capacity

2 min read

The value of the Cisco NCS 1004 lies in its multi-haul transport capabilities and ability to adapt to any reach use case while providing the highest spectral efficiency. Visit Cisco at OFC, booth 5829.

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Bill Gartner

Cisco and Verizon to Demonstrate the Benefit of Multi-Haul Transport

3 min read

Cisco partnered with Verizon to demonstrate the benefits of the granular control of our NCS 1004 in a real-world environment.

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Bill Gartner

Network Modernization: A TDM to IP Solution Webinar and White Paper

2 min read

Join us on Sept. 13, 2018 for our Network Modernization: A TDM to IP Solution webinar and download the white paper. Cisco, Heavy Reading and Verizon have teamed up to show you how CEM can be used for SONET/SDH migration today.

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Bill Gartner

Cisco Named Optical Network Market Leader by IHS

1 min read

Cisco continues to be on the leading edge, driving optical industry innovation for our customers. Today, I’m pleased to announce that we have achieved the ranking of Optical Network Market Leader in the 2018 IHS Market Technology Vendor Scorecard.

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Bill Gartner

Cisco Spring PONC Hits the Mark Following a Successful OFC

3 min read

We are helping our customers navigate a changing landscape, and PONC presents a unique opportunity to gather Cisco executives with industry experts for this two-day interactive event where presentations, panels, discussions, and highly informative breakouts take place.