Acterna and Zhone Technologies Complete Interoperability Integration.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2003

Zhone's Arca-DACS and Acterna's NetOptimize OSS Solution Provide

Service Quality Management to Optimizing Bandwidth at The Edge

Zhone Technologies, Inc., (Nasdaq:ZHNE) the first company dedicated to developing the full spectrum of next-generation access infrastructure solutions, announced today that Zhone and Acterna have completed interoperability integration to facilitate rapid and assured service delivery in carrier access networks.

The agreement unites Acterna's NetOptimize(TM) OSS Solution with Zhone's Arca-DACS 100(TM) and SECHTOR 300 products, two reliable, standards-based digital access, cross-connect (DCS) and universal gateway systems for grooming and concentration of voice and data traffic before it hits the transport network. Integration has been completed and certified for Acterna's Flow Through Provisioning and Network Discovery & Reconciliation platforms.

The Arca-DACS 100 grooms traffic at all levels for granularity to allow for more efficient use of backhaul synchronous optical network (SONET) transport, add-drop multiplexers (ADMs), 3/1/0 DCS ports and switch ports for partially filled (fractional) T1/E1 applications. The SECHTOR 300 adds to these capabilities with sophisticated standards-based GR-303 concentration for even greater efficiencies.

Acterna's NetOptimize OSS solution is a carrier-class, customer-proven OSS for inventory reconciliation, capacity planning, and performance management. NetOptimize allows carriers to effectively monitor traffic loads, patterns, network utilization -- thereby decreasing operating costs, maximizing equipment investment, and increasing revenue and network efficiency

The integration of Arca-DACS with Acterna's NetOptimize OSS expands on Zhone's previous achievements for OSS integration with OSMINE. The result was a smooth integration with NetOptimize completed successfully and on schedule. The Arca-DACS has been broadly deployed among some of the world's largest carriers.

"Zhone's Arca-DACS 100 and SECHTOR 300 products dramatically reduce a carriers cost of delivering end-to-end services. The recent completion of interoperability with Acterna further extends these benefits," said Marcel Chenier, vice president of engineering for Zhone Technologies. "Our customers are now assured that the provisioning capabilities previously available at the core of the network are now also available out to the network's edge. Today's announcement of full management integration with Acterna opens the Arca-DACS to all carriers using Acterna's NetOptimize presently and into the future."

About Acterna

Acterna is the world's largest provider of communications test solutions for telecommunications and cable network operators. A trusted communications test partner for more than eight decades, Acterna offers an unmatched portfolio of award-winning instruments, systems, software and services that help its customers reduce network costs while improving performance and reliability. Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, USA -- with European and Asia-Pacific operations based in Eningen, Germany and Hong Kong -- Acterna serves nearly every major communications service provider and equipment manufacturer around the world through a skilled sales and support organization in 31 countries. For more information, please visit www.acterna.com.

About Zhone Technologies, Inc. (Zhone)

Zhone's strategy combines existing solutions with Zhone's internally developed intellectual property to create a portfolio of scalable next-generation network products supporting a rich array of voice, data, video, and entertainment services. The company was founded by the senior management team that grew telecommunications pioneer Ascend Communications, Inc., from its startup roots to the multi-billion-dollar company acquired by Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) in June 1999. Zhone's advanced networking solutions include the Single Line Multi-Service architecture (SLMS(TM)), FlexBand(TM) Multi-service port, Zhone Management System (ZMS(TM)), Broadband Access Node (BAN(TM)), Multi-Access Line Concentrator (MALC(TM)), AccessNode(TM) and Universal Edge(TM) 9000 products (purchased from Nortel Networks - NYSE/TSE: NT), Sechtor(TM) universal voice gateway, the Z-Edge(TM) access products and RAPTOR(TM) DSLAM, the Zhone Residential Gateway (ZRG) and the FiberJack(TM) PON Terminal.

For more information, please visit www.zhone.com

Zhone, the Zhone logo, and all Zhone product names are trademarks of Zhone Technologies, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.