CIENA Introduces New Optical Switch, Drives Intelligence Closer to the Network Edge.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

LINTHICUM, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)

May 15, 2000

Industry Leader in Optical Networking Launches CoreDirector CI

For Regional and Metropolitan Networking; System To Be Shown At

SuperComm 2000

CIENA Corporation (Nasdaq:CIEN) today announced the introduction of its newest intelligent optical core switching product, MultiWave CoreDirector(TM) CI, an entry version of CIENA's market-leading MultiWave CoreDirector switch. CoreDirector CI is designed to offer network operators all the intelligence, real-time provisioning, dynamic network protection, and comprehensive network management capabilities of CoreDirector, but the CI model is optimized for smaller central offices (COs) predominant in regional and metropolitan portions of service provider networks.

Together, CIENA's CoreDirector and CoreDirector CI offer a cost-effective optical solution for end-to-end backbone networking with highly distributed intelligence. CIENA will be displaying both models at SuperComm 2000, June 6-8 in Atlanta (booth #5653).

"One of CIENA's advantages in the optical switching market is the density of its platform, scalable to thousands of ports in a single switch, which is essential in the long-haul arena," said Scott Clavenna, Principal Analyst at Pioneer Consulting. "In regional and metro networks, however, service providers are unable to justify that kind of capacity, but they still require network intelligence for real-time service delivery and reliability necessary for reaching wider markets with new services."

CoreDirector CI occupies less than half of a standard telco rack. Software and module commonality with the larger CoreDirector creates operational savings for training and sparing. When networked with other CoreDirectors and high-capacity optical transport systems, these systems are the primary drivers for the intelligent optical core. This enables service providers to use highly distributed intelligence to design, deliver and manage the next generation of optical services.

"When CIENA introduced CoreDirector, we launched the transition from static networking to dynamic optical bandwidth and services across the core. Immediately, our customers began asking for the next logical step in intelligent networks - a switch optimized for regional and metropolitan core networking," said Gary Smith, CIENA's Chief Operating Officer. "We understand that providing a one-size-fits-all optical switch isn't the most effective solution for every application. By engineering the intelligent platform of CIENA's larger optical switch specifically for smaller central offices, service providers can rollout new, dynamic optical services to even more markets worldwide."

Driving Revenues, Lower Operations Costs

The increasing complexity in legacy networks continues to drive higher operating and maintenance costs. Extended provisioning times associated with that complexity slows growth in service provider revenues. CIENA's CoreDirector and CoreDirector CI models directly address these issues, helping to speed time-to-revenue while driving down the cost of operating the network.

CIENA's CoreDirector family of intelligent optical switches will give service providers the distributed networking intelligence to enable real-time service provisioning; automated switching at the wavelength level with software-definable granularity down to STS-1; simultaneous dynamic mesh, ring and linear protection; and grooming, cross-connect and add/drop capabilities to eliminate capital expenditures on non-scaling legacy devices. In addition, these systems provide access to CIENA's optics-, software- and ASICs-based LightWorks Toolkit(TM) that enables service providers to design and deliver new optical services customized to fit their marketing philosophy.

"We see great engineering and marketing value in adding intelligent optical switches to smaller core offices," said William Bridges, Vice President, Transport Engineering at Qwest Communications. "The arrival of CoreDirector CI means that innovative service providers will be able to extend even greater flexibility throughout the optical layer. That translates to lower operating costs, faster provisioning times, and the ability to deliver entirely new services with broader reach."

Applications for U.S. and International Service Providers

CIENA has worked with service providers to develop CoreDirector CI not only for smaller offices within the optical backbone, but also as a cost-effective connection between access and backbone networks. Utilizing CoreDirector CI as a hub for access and metropolitan ring-based networks will allow service providers to replace multiples of static add/drop multiplexers.

CoreDirector CI also is an ideal solution for major core sites outside of North America, where central offices tend to be smaller than typical U.S. COs, giving service providers an opportunity to build more cost-effective intelligent core networks. iaxis, a pan-European network operator, views CoreDirector CI as an ideal platform for the central offices characteristic of European networks.

"The geography and population density of Europe greatly influence the way service providers build pan-European networks, frequently resulting in many smaller core network sites rather than just a few large ones," said Julian De Bosdari, Vice President of Business Development at iaxis. "CoreDirector CI makes sense for many European core network sites where the capacity requirements aren't as high, but intelligence, full functionality and carrier-class reliability remain critical for delivering the kinds of services customers require."

CoreDirector CI Specifications

The initial release of CoreDirector CI, expected in limited availability in the fourth calendar quarter of this year, will support 64 OC-48/STM-16 and 16 OC-192/STM-64 optical interfaces. Like the larger CoreDirector, the CI model also supports OC-3/STM-1 and OC-12/STM-3 interfaces. The CoreDirector CI platform is designed to support up to 128 optical interfaces and the OC-768/STM-256 interface in the future. All CoreDirector CI interfaces are software-definable for full wavelength switching or channelized STS-N/STM-N granularity down to STS-1 (SONET) and STM-1 (SDH).

ABOUT CIENA

CIENA Corporation's market-leading optical networking systems form the core for the new era of networks and services worldwide. CIENA's LightWorks(TM) architecture enables next-generation optical services and changes the fundamental economics of service-provider networks by simplifying the network and reducing the cost to operate it. Additional information about CIENA can be found at http://www.ciena.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS

Forward-looking statements in this release, including, but not limited to, the cost savings, future product releases, deployment timing and network management benefits of the Company's products, 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 Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 17, 2000.