Ciena is targeting more business in Asia with the appointment of Dion Leung as regional managing director of Asia.

Ciena generated $152 million revenue, accounting for 20 percent of its total global sales, from Asia Pacific in its fiscal second quarter ended April 30, 2018.

The telecom equipment maker needs to focus more on Asia because some of the top mobile operators in North America, which currently contributes 60 percent of its total revenue, are not making huge investment in networks.

Ciena currently serves more than 1,300 customers worldwide and operates in more than ten countries across the APJ region. Ciena’s leading mobile operator customers include Telstra (with Ericsson), DOCOMO PACIFIC, SK Telecom and KDDI.

Dion Leung, based in Singapore, reports directly to Rick Seeto, vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) at Ciena.

Dion Leung earlier worked at Coriant as vice president of Business Development in Asia –responsible for developing business opportunities for the company’s connectivity solutions.

Prior to that, Dion Leung led sales and development of Tellabs’ optical business in Asia and the U.S.

Dion Leung holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta.

Asia’s emerging markets present opportunities for Ciena as network operators transform their networks to meet growth, driven by continued wireless evolution, the Internet of Things (IoT) and increasing user consumption of digital and cloud content.

Ciena recently hired Wong Kian Soon, based in Malaysia, as sales engineering manager for North Asia supporting Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. He will develop deals for Ciena’s converged packet-optical, packet networking and automation software.

Ciena has also appointed KokChen Lim as a new sales engineer also based in Malaysia. He helps identify sales opportunities in both Malaysia and Singapore, two important emerging markets for Ciena in the region.

Ngoc Vu Duc, a new Sales Engineer based in Vietnam, works with the local team to position Ciena’s solutions to operators looking for expansion and transformation of their networks.