CIENA Unveils WavelengthDirector Optical Add/Drop Mux, Enabling Increased Automation Of Customer Networks.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

LINTHICUM, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2002

Company Launches Automation Program Designed to Offer the

Benefits of Distributed Intelligence to Carriers

CIENA(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN) plans to demonstrate WavelengthDirector(TM), its new Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing (OADM) product next week at OFC 2002 in Anaheim, California. WavelengthDirector OADM will allow carriers the flexibility of software provisioning, and can add and drop wavelengths with single channel granularity along network routes.

The initial version of WavelengthDirector is expected to be in customer lab trials this summer.

WavelengthDirector is the first element of CIENA's new Automation product and feature program designed to bring the benefits of distributed intelligence to the Company's current and potential customers, telecom service providers.

"One of the customer benefits we anticipate for customers is significant operating expense savings, thanks to WavelengthDirector allowing carriers to do network configuration remotely," said Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer at CIENA. "In addition to the cost savings, this OADM will provide carriers with unparalleled network flexibility."

WavelengthDirector, which enables CIENA's transport products to work in concert with CoreDirector(TM), can add or drop any or all wavelengths based on commands from the system software.

WavelengthDirector OADM is based upon next generation optical filtering technology that allows very small portions of the optical spectrum to be selectively added and dropped. When combined with the latest CIENA advances in ultra long-haul transport, the WavelengthDirector allows dramatic reductions in the capital and operational costs associated with deploying networks by replacing costly back-to-back terminals that process all wavelengths with a device that processes only the wavelengths needed at that site. CoreStream transport, WavelengthDirector OADM and CoreDirector combine to offer an intelligent, highly flexible, yet cost effective solution for optical networking in the core of today's highest performance networks.

Automation Program

One of the differentiating traits of CIENA's LightWorks(TM) products is that they provide distributed intelligence for carrier networks. This results in the highest available level of network automation for carriers that deploy them. The goal of the Automation program is for CIENA to use its experience with distributed intelligence to maximize the automation benefits for carriers deploying the Company's products.

"We are focused on helping our customers build the world's most efficient networks, not on throwing around technology terms," said Alexander. "It's not simply about intelligence. It's about the benefit that distributed intelligence offers our customers. And the key benefit is automation, in CoreDirector, now WavelengthDirector and then beyond."

"For long haul carriers, it's not about products, it's about networks," said Dana Cooperson, director of optical networking at RHK, Inc. "Flexible, dynamically configurable add/drop functionality is a critical component of efficient extended- and ultra-long haul networks. The WavelengthDirector OADM, together with other CIENA equipment, creates a new way for carriers to harness distributed intelligence to build and remotely manage highly functional, lower cost optical networks."

CIENA's product family spans the critical areas of next-generation intelligent optical networking. With the products that form CIENA's revolutionary LightWorks architecture, service providers can build a LightWorks network that reaches from the core of the network to the access edge. CIENA is the only next-generation provider to offer carriers a complete range of products in long-distance optical transport, metropolitan optical transport, intelligent optical switching and network management.

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 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

This press release contains 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, the Company's plans to enable customers to better automate their networks by deploying CIENA's Automation-based products, CIENA's expectation that the WavelengthDirector feature will be in customer lab trials this summer, and the ability of WavelengthDirector to work in concert with CoreDirector's automated features, 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 21, 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.