ADC to Lead Standardization of Tunable Lasers with Agility.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2001

Initiative Part of Effort by Companies to Develop Industry's

First Standardized 40-Pin Parallel Form Factor,

Electronic Interfaces and Host Level Software Commands

ADC (Nasdaq:ADCT; www.adc.com), a leading global supplier of fiber optics, network equipment, software and integration services for broadband, multiservice networks, today announced a new initiative with Agility Communications, Inc., an optical component manufacturer based in Santa Barbara, Calif. The companies have agreed to combine efforts in the development of standards that enable customers to more easily design their systems around common tunable laser interfaces. ADC's industry-leading tunable laser products, along with all of ADC's optical component solutions, will be on display at booth no. 2600 at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC) 2001 in Anaheim, Calif., March 19 - 21.

The ADC/Agility initiative is intended to provide customers with open interface options of compatible widely tunable lasers. These devices enable the flexible provisioning of affordable bandwidth. The anticipated outcome of the ADC/Agility initiative will be the development of the tunable laser industry's initial standards for a 40-pin parallel form factor, electronic interfaces and host-level software commands.

In addition to this effort, ADC expects to actively participate in future standardization activity through such bodies as the Optical Internetworking Forum, among others.

"We believe this initiative will greatly benefit all customers who have a demand for tunable lasers," said Rob Plastow, chief technology officer of ADC's Fiber Optics Division. "In an evolving marketplace, the ability to provide compatible products with similar interfaces will speed network deployment, while ensuring product quality and reliability."

"Cinta Networks has been working closely with tunable laser companies such as Agility and ADC, as part of our overall strategy to track and enable the latest advances in communications technologies," said Chien-Yu Kuo, chief technology officer for Cinta Networks. "By playing an integral role in the efforts of ADC and Agility to drive the emerging tunable laser standards to market, we are now well-positioned to deliver leading edge optical switching solutions that incorporate these component advances to our customers."

Tunable Laser Technology and Marketplace

Telecom providers continue to face the challenge of trying to deploy high-bandwidth networks at increasingly competitive costs. Tunable lasers are sold to telecom systems vendors whose solutions enable telecom carriers to reduce network operating costs associated with these deployments and provide a critical catalyst in enabling the growth of all-optical networks.

According to a November 2000 research report from telecommunications industry analyst firm RHK, the market for tunable lasers is one of the fastest-growing segments in optical components for terrestrial dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) networks. RHK forecasts this market to grow from almost zero revenue in 2000 to $1 billion in sales by 2004.

ADC, which entered the tunable laser market via its acquisition of Altitun in 2000, is the first company to deploy tunable lasers in a field environment and was the first in the world to commercially ship a tunable laser. ADC's Anywave(R) laser family uses proven Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) laser technology and includes an innovative, widely tunable semiconductor laser chip with an emission wavelength that can be tuned over the entire 1529-1561 nm band. Lasers that emit in this band can be optically amplified with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) and are used in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fiber optic communication systems.

About Agility

Agility Communications, Inc., founded by a team of optical networking veterans in Oct. 1998, is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California and has manufacturing facilities in Allentown, Pennsylvania. For more information about Agility solutions visit, http:www.agility.com, send email to [e-mail] or call 805-690-1700.

About ADC

ADC is The Broadband Company(TM). ADC's fiber optics, network equipment, software and integration services make broadband communications a reality worldwide by enabling communications service providers to deliver high-speed Internet, data, video and voice services to consumers and businesses. ADC (Nasdaq:ADCT) has annual sales of more than $3.4 billion and employs approximately 21,000 people worldwide. ADC's stock is included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Index. Learn more about ADC Telecommunications, Inc. at www.adc.com.

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