Corning Introduces Corning Innovation Ventures; Venture Capital Group to Invest in Innovative, Leading-edge Technologies.

Business/Technology Editors

CORNING, N.Y.---(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 2000

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), an industry-leading manufacturer and supplier of optical fiber and photonic products used in state-of-the-art telecommunications networks, today announced the creation of Corning Innovation Ventures. The new venture capital group will provide the company with access to leading edge technologies by investing in strategic opportunities in the optical networking space, including parallel and breakthrough efforts aligned with existing Corning programs.

Corning Innovation Ventures was established to provide Corning Incorporated with the ability to seed revolutionary new innovation by leveraging the company's market presence, insight and technical experience, while at the same time availing itself of new technologies and providing incremental return to its shareholders. Corning Innovation Ventures has been established with $50 million in its initial fund for 2000.

Corning Innovation Ventures will focus initially on the optical networking market with a specialized staff of technical experts and marketing professionals drawn from Corning's Optical Fiber and Photonic Technologies divisions. The Corning Innovation Ventures staff has a wealth of technical and marketing experience within the industry. This diversity will provide much needed assistance to the start-up ventures being targeting.

Greg Smith, president of Corning Innovation Ventures said, "Corning Innovation Ventures was designed to provide significant value beyond capital funding of new ventures in the optical networking space. Our staff was chosen for their ability to strategically leverage Corning Incorporated's insight, expertise and market presence to assist new ventures in ways that seed money alone cannot. We believe we are unique in our ability to partner with new firms."

Commenting on Corning Innovation Ventures, Corning President and Chief Operating Officer, John W. Loose stated, "The optical networking marketplace is a dynamic environment with new technologies being developed practically on a daily basis. As one of the world's leading optical layer companies, Corning has a unique combination of talent, technological expertise and financial resources to nurture promising innovations that will help to advance our own development efforts. We look to accomplish this through Corning Innovation Ventures."

Corning Innovation Ventures most recently participated in the funding of CyOptics, Incorporated, a leading developer of optoelectronic transmission components for 40Gbps and ultra-long-haul transmission.

Corning Innovation Ventures currently has offices at the company's world headquarters in Corning, NY and will soon open a second office in Palo Alto, CA. For more information contact Corning Innovation Ventures at 1-866-875-3965, or access it's website at http://www.corning.com/innovationventures.

Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated (www.corning.com) creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning's revenues in 1999 were $4.7 billion.