CIENA Names Rafael Campuzano Director General of Mexico Operations.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

LINTHICUM, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 2002

CIENA(R) Corporation, a global leader in intelligent optical networking systems and software, today announced that Rafael Campuzano has been appointed General Manager for CIENA's operations in Mexico. Campuzano will be responsible for managing and expanding CIENA's strategic business relationships with Mexican service providers, as well as managing the operations of the company's Mexico City office.

Campuzano has more than 25 years experience directing telecommunications organizations on both the vendor and service provider sides in Mexico. Most recently, he served as General Manager at Xylan Corporation (acquired by Alcatel), overseeing all operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean regions for the company. Previously, he held management positions at Omnes De Mexico, Nortel (then Northern Telecom) and Ericsson.

"Rafael brings a thorough understanding of the telecom industry, from both the vendor and service provider perspectives. As we continue our focus on helping service providers improve their bottom lines, Rafael's experience will be indispensable," said Michael O. McCarthy, CIENA's senior vice president, worldwide sales and support. "His familiarity with service providers' objectives in Mexico will play a key role in CIENA's success in the market. We are pleased to welcome Rafael to CIENA and look forward to his contributions."

CIENA announced recently an agreement with TELMEX, Mexico's largest service provider, to deploy intelligent optical switching equipment in the incumbent carrier's 70,000-kilometer Latin American fiber optic digital network.

"CIENA continues to strengthen its presence in Mexico and around the world with its distributed intelligence-based optical networking architecture and its emphasis on providing innovative, cost-saving services and solutions to its customers," said Campuzano. "I look forward to helping the Company achieve continued success in the future."

Campuzano has a Ph.D. in Electronics from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications in Paris, France.

ABOUT CIENA

CIENA Corporation's market-leading intelligent 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 www.CIENA.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions of CIENA (the Company) that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release, including, but not limited to, the cost savings, 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 August 22, 2002. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.