As all CEOs go, he not only has a vested interest, but is the chief salesman for his company.  So yes, he is doing a sales job.  However, he is right in that it has taken CIEN all this time to right his ship.  Ciena bought the Nortel Optical segment in early 2009 for close to $900M.  That was a relatively large amount for CIEN. When Ciena bought it, it bit off a lot, probably more than it should have, so it has taken it years to digest it.  And on top of it the optical market stayed in a deep funk for many years, so it was a combination of factors.

That said, these were problems that many outfits experienced, even if those other outfits did not acquire anything, they were tough times for all.

The other truth is that the field of companies competing for sales and territories is much reduced.  The fact remains that bandwidth demand continue to grow, and with the combination of IoT and 4K TVs now being the choice if consumers that demand will continue for several more years. With a vastly reduced number of companies, times will be good for all in just a few years.

BTW, I bought more INFN on Thursday.