Verizon today launched a new low-latency network for financial services firms that can complete a stock trade between New York and Chicago in as little as 14.5 milliseconds.

After several days of gains, tech stocks dropped Thursday as markets declined on disappointing news from Europe, where government officials are meeting to try to solve the sovereign debt crisis afflicting several countries in the euro area.

Major U.S. stock markets on Friday closed for a sixth straight week of losses, the worst weekly losing streak since the third quarter of 2002, during the dot-com bust.

Ciena plunged deeper into the red following its acquisition of Nortel Networks' metro Ethernet business, with sales of its legacy products stagnating, it reported Wednesday.

Ciena Corporation has announced the appointment of Anthony Mclachlan to the role of vice-president and David McDermott to the role of general manager as the networking company looks to expand is Asia-Pacific operations.