Like most carrier equipment makers, DragonWave is carefully watching the spending plans of its present and potential customers. Many have already signaled their spending plans for the coming year are being chopped as economies slow in many of the 40 countries it sells to.

"There remain some uncertainties in other opportunities we are pursing," he warned.

DragonWave also makes wireless Ethernet radios for enterprise Ethernet access, as well as tailored solutions for the education, medical and video surveillance markets. Allen described the China sale as "an enterprise application servicing the government sector."

In fact, he was surprised at the deal because DragonWave hasn't paid much attention to the country, feeling sales and marketing efforts in other nations would show results sooner. Now he's rethinking that.