Ciena Announces CN 4200 RS FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform to Power Service-Enabled Transport in High-Density Metro and Regional Networks.

Expansion of CN 4200 Family Offers a Highly-Scalable Platform to Enable Migration Toward Performance-Grade Ethernet with On-Demand Programmable Optical Networks

LINTHICUM, Md. -- Ciena([R]) Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN), the network specialist, today announced the CN 4200[TM] RS FlexSelect([TM]) Advanced Services Platform, the latest expansion of the Company's flagship CN 4200 family of products and its FlexSelect Architecture vision for flexible, service-enabled transport. With the ability to aggregate and distribute thousands of on-demand programmable services from a single platform, the CN 4200 RS is designed for telco and cable service providers, large enterprises, research and education (R&E) institutions, and government organizations to deploy in locations that require massive service aggregation and wavelength routing, such as high-density metro offices, data centers and head-ends.

Delivering the same unique combination of on-demand programmable service delivery, G.709 OTN-based service transparency and intelligent service-level management that has made the CN 4200 a market success, the CN 4200 RS offers four times the capacity of the original four slot CN 4200 while sharing the same hardware architecture, software and management system to maximize investment protection. Generally available, Ciena's CN 4200 RS has already been selected for deployment by a major European operator as well as multiple existing CN 4200 customers.

"As optical networking technology evolves, operators are assessing their optical networking systems not just on performance but increasingly on the flexibility of these systems. Flexibility - including software programmability, sub-wavelength grooming, and universal line cards - is the hallmark of the CN 4200," said Sterling Perrin, senior analyst with Heavy Reading. "Driven by high-bandwidth, packet-based applications - such as residential video - we are seeing demand for higher and higher capacities in metro and regional hubs. The CN 4200 RS addresses these unprecedented capacity requirements."

The CN 4200 RS chassis features 16 line card slots and up to 96 ports per chassis with scalability to more than 5000 ports in a single node. By increasing capacity and lowering cost per port, the CN 4200 RS expands the addressable market for the CN 4200 family in terms of network locations and applications with the capacity and features optimized to support video distribution, broadband aggregation, wireless backhaul, managed business services and other applications. It also represents the Company's standard for delivering its dynamic wavelength routing, featuring a hybrid ROADM solution with sub-wavelength grooming to maximize wavelength efficiency. In addition, the recently-announced FlexSelect 40G Shelf can be integrated with the CN 4200 RS for delivering in-service upgrades of granular 40G wavelengths to existing 10G networks.

"The success of the CN 4200 family - driven by Ciena's FlexiPort technology - underscores the growing importance of software automation and re-programmable hardware to provide competitive differentiation at the initial purchase as well as to solidify network incumbency as services evolve," said Steve Alexander, chief technology officer at Ciena. "With large customers stacking multiple CN 4200s at locations where they needed large channel counts to keep pace with services growth, the creation of the CN 4200 RS was driven by customer demand for a bigger, denser chassis to maximize CN 4200's flexible packet optical benefits in a scalable platform that leverages the same hardware, software and management system to drastically reduce costs."

In fewer than two years, thousands of CN 4200s have been deployed worldwide with leading telco and cable service providers, large enterprises, R&E institutions and government organizations. Across these diverse networks, the CN 4200 family is powering a wide range of applications, including 10G metro and regional transport, inter-office (IOF) connectivity, storage connectivity, and grid computing, among others. And, with its on-demand programmable optical interfaces, support for new services can be simply downloaded, such as the recent addition of IBM's Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex([TM]) (GDPS([R])) and Server Time Protocol (STP) technologies for business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) applications.

Designed to deliver performance-grade Ethernet services, Ciena's CN 4200 family of platforms now includes the CN 4200 MC for edge-optimized optical services from the customer premises, the CN 4200 for aggregating services onto rings, and the new CN 4200 RS for aggregation, grooming and routing of traffic at major network aggregation points. The platforms offer the unique benefit of universal line cards with individual user-programmable ports to deliver TDM, Ethernet and storage services at any speed on any available port, and ITU G.709 OTN for service transparency. Ciena's CN 4200 family also supports remote service provisioning and management through Ciena's ON-Center([R]) Network and Service Management Suite that offers network operators a unique set of tools for efficient service deployment, proactive network management and service level management.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation is the network specialist, focused on expanding the possibilities for its customers' networks while reducing their cost of ownership. The Company's systems, software and services target and cure specific network pain points so that telcos, cable operators, governments and enterprises can best exploit the new applications that are driving their businesses forward. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

Note to Ciena Investors

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1, 2007. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena'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. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.