Case Study: Ciena achieves practical, predictable multi-format customer documentation with Adobe FrameMaker (Adobe)

Structured authoring and publishing helps Ciena publish documentation for all customer preferences

Ciena, a pioneer in optical networking whose solutions power more than 1,300 companies including 80% of the world’s largest network providers, manages over 25,000 pages of user documentation. Customer feedback revealed two distinct needs—comprehensive reference libraries and concise, task-focused guides—and Ciena’s unstructured FrameMaker workflow made it hard to customize, reformat, or surface the right content; formatting errors alone could cost a day per 200‑page manual.

Ciena is moving to Adobe FrameMaker (2017 Release) to enable topic‑based DITA authoring and XML publishing while keeping authors in a familiar tool, allowing a phased transition with minimal staff or budget impact. The structured approach supports content reuse and multi‑format output (PDF, HTML, eBook), improves navigation and consistency, and reduces errors, delays, and rework—delivering faster, more varied documentation that better meets customer preferences.

Ciena

Susanna Carlisi

Content Strategist & Tools Specialist