Summarized by Michael Nielsen

Does LDS Businessman David Huber Have a Success Secret?

COLUMBIA, MARYLAND -- Normally, people would scoff at the idea that a company with no revenues, but boasting a secret product, would be valued at $37 billion shortly after going public. But David Huber, founder and CEO of Corvis, has has made Wall Street investors rich in the past, and they expect him to do it once again. The LDS businessman has inspired confidence in investors that his company's secret optical networking product will be irresistible.

Their confidence may be well-founded. Huber left Ciena to start Corvis. Ciena, launched in 1997, brings in nearly $500 million yearly. Still, the high value means that Corvis will have to succeed in a highly competitive market, with Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies, Cisco Systems, and Ciena fiercely battling each other.

Analysts are mixed on the future of the company. On one hand, the valuation seems ridiculously high in a highly competitive market. On the other hand, Huber's Ciena had an outrageously high IPO, too. Ciena took a terrible beating when it had a poor showing in 1998, and hit an all time low. Since then, the company has bounced back and now is poised to surpass its high. It remains to be seen whether Huber can repeat the performance.

Source:

Personal Capital: What's Corvis's secret?
Redherring (Light Reading, August 10, 2000) 17Aug00 B4
By R. Scott Raynovich