Optical networking vendor Ciena pushed aside pandemic-related challenges in the second quarter of 2020 to post robust earnings Thursday. The company banked $91.7 million in net income on $894 million in revenue, which was up 3.4% year over year, exceeding investor expectations by $4.6 million.

"Amidst the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every industry and company has been challenged in some way, and obviously, Ciena is no different," Ciena CEO Gary Smith said on the earnings call, according to a transcript.

Smith credited three factors for Ciena's success through the trying quarter. The company transitioned 96% of its employees to remote work, instituted a new service delivery model to provide ongoing support through the pandemic, and leaned heavily on its diverse supply chain partners to minimize risk.

While Ciena largely avoided supply chain issues, the quarter wasn't without challenges.

"We experienced some disruptions from our suppliers, including component constraints, extended lead times, and reduced or temporarily suspended operations," Smith said.

The second quarter also saw the commercial launch of  Ciena's WaveLogic 5 Extreme. "We've now shipped product to more than a dozen customers and the technology's operational improvement in some of the world's leading tier one service providers," Smith said.

Publicly disclosed customers include Internet2, Telia, Verizon, Comcast, Southern Cross, and Deutsche Telekom.

Strength in the North American, European, Middle Eastern, and African markets also bolstered revenues during the second quarter, said CFO Jim Moylan. And opex came in lower than expected, due in part to pandemic related travel restrictions.

"This strong financial position enables us to continue to invest in innovation to ensure a strong inventory position to serve customers and to support work capital needs," Moylan said.

Turning to Ciena's Q3 guidance, Moylan reminded investors that the pandemic remains an uncertainty.

"We do anticipate that the challenges related to slower business velocity due to COVID-19 restrictions are likely to weigh somewhat on our second-half performance," he said.

The pandemic may actually play in the company's favor as network operators seek to address the ramp in bandwidth demands caused by the influx of remote workers, according to Moylan.

With this in mind, the company is projecting Q3 revenues between $955 million and $985 million, and a revised full-year revenue growth of 2% to 4%.