The name of the company was changed to Ciena in 1994. Its first products were introduced in May 1996, and Sprint Corporation was the company's first customer. At $195 million, the company's first-year sales were the highest ever recorded by a startup at the time. Ciena had sold $54.8 million in products to Sprint alone by November 1996. WorldCom also became an early customer, and Sprint and WorldCom accounted for 97 percent of Ciena's revenue, as of early 1997. Ciena began diversifying its clientele and acquiring smaller contracts in 1997.