ADVA Optical Networking and COLT Telecom Sign Covering Agreement; Builds On a Successful 3-Year Partnership Providing Metro Access Solutions.

Business/High Tech Editors

MARTINSRIED/MUNICH, Germany and RAMSEY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2002

ADVA Optical Networking (German Neuer Markt: ADV), a leading global provider of optical networking solutions, today announced a covering agreement with COLT Telecom for its entire Fiber Service Platform (FSP) portfolio.

This agreement establishes the framework for the supply of ADVA equipment to COLT for the deployment of high-speed metro access services across Europe. ADVA and COLT have worked in close co-operation over the last three years to provide solutions for large enterprises using ADVA's FSP portfolio. COLT has deployed over a thousand ADVA FSP systems to-date, which are successfully supporting a wide variety of services, and was awarded the 10,000th ADVA Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) channel card in September 2000.

"ADVA and COLT have established a strong partnership during the last three years and COLT plans to continue investing into this partnership with one of the leading designers and manufacturers of optical networking solutions," stated Horst Enzelmuller, Chairman of the Management Board of COLT Germany.

COLT Telecom markets its high-speed services as LANlink, which is a fully managed end-to-end service between Local Area Networks (LANs) and Storage Area Networks (SANs) across a metropolitan area. COLT provides both building-to-building connections and fully managed end-to-end services.

"COLT continues to be a very important partner for us within the metro market. We have seen a proliferation of metro networks deployed with our FSP products for business applications such as co-location and managed fiber services. We are extremely pleased that COLT will continue to expand their solutions portfolio with ADVA's Fiber Service Platforms," said Jurgen Hansjosten, Chief Sales Officer at ADVA Optical Networking.

About ADVA's FSP PORTFOLIO

ADVA's FSP portfolio represents one of the most comprehensive product solutions in the optical networking arena. ADVA's carrier-class FSP 3000 is the flagship product enabling carriers and service providers to transport data up to 300 kilometers and integrates an all-optical switch for add/drop, pass-through, regeneration, and section protection. Carriers and service providers have deployed the FSP 3000 to maximize the bandwidth density and service flexibility of their metro core and access networks, while supporting new revenue opportunities for high-speed data, voice, storage, and video services. FSP 500 and FSP 1000 complement the FSP 3000, cost-effectively grooming data traffic from customer premises into metro access networks. ADVA's FSP 2000 augments the product portfolio as the scalable enterprise system, offering 32-protected DWDM channels and transporting up to 256 different services, providing cost-effective storage and private networking.

About COLT TELECOM GROUP 

COLT is one of the new competitive telecommunications companies operating in Europe. Founded in 1992, COLT operates an integrated IP based pan European network linking the financial and business centers of Europe, providing the full range of telecommunications services to high value corporate and carrier customers. COLT operates in 32 European cities in 13 countries. All the city networks are connected via a pan-European long distance network, which is 15.000 kilometers in length. COLT has established a reputation for first class service and is increasingly regarded as the preferred supplier of high bandwidth telecommunication services.

The COLT brand is synonymous with quality, reliability and value for money. The western European market for telecommunication services is similar in size to the USA. Strong growth and demand for high quality service coupled with increasing liberalization offers COLT considerable opportunity for rapid expansion. COLT is listed on the London Stock Exchange (CTM.L) and NASDAQ (COLT) in the USA.

About ADVA Optical Networking

ADVA Optical Networking is a leading global provider of optical networking solutions for rapid and cost-effective provisioning of high-speed data, storage, voice and video services in the metropolitan area. ADVA's solutions have been deployed at over 54 service providers (including PTTs, RBOCs, LECs, and IXCs) and more than 500 enterprises worldwide. ADVA's carrier-class portfolio is comprised of the Fiber Service Platform (FSP) family of products - explicitly designed to ensure the lowest total cost of ownership. ADVA's products are sold through an international network of blue-chip distribution partners in addition to its own direct sales force. For more information: www.advaoptical.com.