CIENA Completes Lightera Transaction Board Changes Announced.LINTHICUM, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 1999--CIENA Corporation (Nasdaq:CIEN CIEN Ciena Corporation (stock symbol) ) today announced the completion of its acquisition of Lightera Networks Inc. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the agreement announced March 15, 1999, CIENA acquired all outstanding shares of Lightera in exchange for approximately 20.6 million shares of CIENA common stock. Based on the closing price of CIENA's common stock on Wednesday, March 31, the transaction is valued at approximately $463.5 million. The transaction will be accounted for as pooling of interest Noun 1. pooling of interest - an accounting method used in the merging of companies; the balance sheets are added together item by item; this method is tax-free transaction and will qualify as a tax-free reorganization. CIENA expects to file shortly with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a Form-8K restating the Company's historic results to reflect the addition of Lightera's business. "We are pleased and excited with customer reaction to CIENA's LightWorks(TM) Initiative and we're thrilled to have the people of Lightera join the CIENA team," said Patrick Nettles net·tle n. 1. Any of numerous plants of the genus Urtica, having toothed leaves, unisexual apetalous flowers, and stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact. 2. Any of various hairy, stinging, or prickly plants. , president and chief executive officer of CIENA. CIENA's LightWorks Initiative was launched in mid-March with the Company's announced combination with both Lightera and Omnia Communications Inc. and is designed to change the fundamental economics of service provider networks by dramatically reducing the number of network elements, thereby lowering carriers' capital expenses and network operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales . Announced in early March, with commercial availability expected in the second half of 1999, Lightera's Core Director intelligent optical core switch is targeted at delivering scalable, ultra-high density, high-capacity switching, as well as real-time provisioning with order-of-magnitude improvements in carrier infrastructure cost of ownership. A suite of protection and restoration capabilities allows carriers to build mesh, ring or hybrid mesh-ring optical cores without legacy SONET equipment. Completion of CIENA's acquisition of Omnia Communications Inc., also announced on March 15, 1999, remains subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions and is expected in the June/July timeframe. Organization Effective immediately, Jagdeep Singh, Lightera's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. assumes the role of Division President for the Core Switching Division of CIENA formed by Lightera's business, which will remain in Cupertino, Calif. In conjunction with the closing of the Lightera transaction, CIENA also announced action on planned changes to its Board of Directors. Venture capitalists Jon Bayless and Cliff Higgerson, each of whom joined the Board in April 1994 in connection with the early financing of the Company, have stepped down, and Mr. Singh has been named to take Mr. Higgerson's position on the Board. The Company expects to announce a new director to fill Mr. Bayless' position in the next several weeks, and has an active search underway for possible Board expansion. Said Nettles of Bayless and Higgerson, "During their respective tenures as Directors, CIENA grew from just a handful of employees with a product idea, to the over 1,400 employees and market leadership position we have today. We are grateful to Jon and Cliff for their help in making that happen." NOTE TO INVESTORS Forward-looking statements in this release, including those referring to the intended design and impact of the Lightworks(TM) Initiative, as well as those referring to the expected commercial availability of Lightera's Core Director intelligent optical core switch in the second half of 1999, are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business, which include the risk factors disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. , as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 9, 1998, as supplemented by the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10Q as filed with the Commission on February 18, 1999, and as will be further supplemented in the Form 8k filing referred to above. About CIENA Additional information about CIENA and its Lightworks Initiative can be found on its worldwide Website: http://www.ciena.com. Based in Linthicum, Md., CIENA Corporation Ciena Corporation NASDAQ: CIEN develops and markets communications network platforms and software, and offers professional services. The Company's broadband access, data and optical networking platforms, software tools, and global network services support worldwide telecom is a market leader of open architecture, optical networking Communications between computers, telephones and other electronic devices using light. An optical network is far more reliable and has far greater potential transmission capacity than networking in the electrical domain. See optical fiber. systems that form the core of telecommunications networks worldwide. CIENA's networking solutions utilize bandwidth expanding dense wavelength division multiplexing See WDM. (DWDM (Dense WDM) The term given to wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) when significantly more channels were being added. Since WDM is increasingly more "dense" all the time, both terms are used synonymously. See WDM. DWDM - wavelength division multiplexing ) technology and include the MultiWave(R) 1600 long-haul transport system, WaveWatcher(R) network management software, the MultiWave Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer A device installed at an intermediate point on a transmission line that enables new signals to come in and existing signals to go out. In a typical example, most signals pass through the device, but some would be "dropped" by splitting them from the line. , the MultiWave Sentry(TM) enhanced long-distance transport system and the new MultiWave(R) Firefly and MultiWave Metro(TM) short-haul systems. Through its CIENA Services subsidiary, CIENA provides a range of engineering, furnishing and installation (EF&I) services for telecommunications service providers in the areas of transport, switching and wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. . |
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