ADC Announces Availability of High-Powered 980nm Pump Lasers; Pump Laser Product Marks ADC's Foray into the Active Optical Components Market.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2000

ADC (Nasdaq: ADCT; www.adc.com) today announced the availability of its high-powered 980nm pump laser diode and module, ADC's first active optical component product line. The 980nm pump laser products are considered a key active component in Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA), a subsystem in the fast growing Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) systems market. The ADC 980nm pump laser products will be on display at the OFC Trade Show and Conference, booth No. 1125, March 7-9, in Baltimore, Maryland.

ADC designs and manufacturers both the 980nm diode chip and module. This vertically integrated manufacturing approach results in a consistent and reliable product. The company's 980nm pump laser products comply with the required Bellcore GR-468-CORE reliability testing protocol, with initial results that exceed industry requirements.

"The addition of active optical components to an industry-leading family of fiber products is an important step in ADC's growth as a comprehensive supplier of both active and passive optical components," said Lynn Davis, president of ADC's Broadband Connectivity Group. "The pump laser showcases ADC's pathway strategy of buying and building technology that will enable our customers to be progressive and efficient. As markets and technologies grow and change, ADC will continue to develop and integrate the products service providers need to compete and thrive."

Historically, 980nm pump laser products have been plagued with the common failure mechanism of Catastrophic Optical Mirror Damage (COMD). ADC utilizes a unique patent-pending Epitaxial Mirror On Facet (EMOF(TM)) technology that virtually eliminates COMD. Additionally, the EMOF process allows ADC to batch process their 980nm laser diodes, thus greatly increasing production throughput and capacity.

The product comes as a result of ADC's June, 1999, acquisition of Spectracom, a leading research and development company in the 980nm pump laser products industry. The Spectracom acquisition marked ADC's third purchase of an optical component company in the past five years. AOFR, acquired in 1995, is a world leader in fused biconic taper couplers and serves as ADC's development center for the ADC DWDM product line. Princeton Optics, acquired in 1998, provides core expertise in assembling and aligning mirrors, prisms and lenses used in producing ADC's optical attenuators, collimators, circulators, isolators and polarizers. When combined, these optical technologies create the core passive and active optical components for telecommunications systems suppliers.

DWDM has emerged as the optical communications technology to handle the increased demand of network bandwidth due to the explosion of video and data communications needs. The evolution of DWDM system architecture is driving demand for 980nm pump lasers, which have proven to be a reliable and cost-effective amplification source for EDFAs.

Telecom market research firm Ryan Hankin Kent, Inc. reports optical components should experience an annualized growth rate of 50% through 2003, reaching $7.0 billion. The forecast provides detail on the growth opportunities for optical components that make up DWDM systems, specifically, 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps sources, modulators, receivers, wavelength division multiplexers, and 980nm and 1480nm pump laser modules.

About ADC

ADC Telecommunications, Inc. is a leading global supplier of network equipment, software and integration services for broadband, multiservice networks that deliver data, video and voice communications over telephone, cable television, Internet, broadcast, wireless and enterprise networks. ADC's broadband, multiservice network solutions enable local access, high-speed transmission and software management of communications services from service providers to consumers and businesses over fiber-optic, copper, coaxial and wireless media. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ADC has approximately 14,400 employees around the world and annual sales of $2.1 billion. ADC's stock is included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Index. For additional information, visit our Web site at www.adc.com.