National LambdaRail Selects Calient Networks Switches for Backbone Network.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- NLR Will Purchase Calient DiamondWave(R) PXC Products for Network Deployment and Resell Calient's PXC to NLR Members Seeking Automated Connection to the NLR Backbone and GMPLS Networking Capabilities

Calient Networks, a leading supplier of carrier-class all-optical switching systems and GMPLS software, today announced that National LambdaRail (NLR), the provider of infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking technologies and applications in the U.S., has signed a multi-year supply contract to deploy Calient's DiamondWave(R) PXC in key locations across the U.S. Further, NLR has signed a partnership and reseller agreement with Calient for the sale of the PXC to NLR members, including Regional Optical Networks (RONs).

The multi-year agreement anticipates deployment of two dozen PXC systems at key junction nodes in the NLR national backbone and at RON interface points. A unique element of the agreement will allow for the partitioning of the PXC between RON and NLR activity, to significantly lower the cost of initial deployment and foster seamless network integration. This will also allow researchers to operate layer-1 switched virtual private networks with GMPLS networking capability.

The PXC will aid NLR in operating and managing their backbone production network and facilitate the research efforts of their member organizations. Calient's optical switches will provide improved service availability with optical protection while dramatically reducing operation costs on the backbone network thanks to remote reconfiguration. Optical interconnection between RONs will greatly expand and improve end-to-end services such as GRID computing and establishing of temporary extremely high speed networks. Research benefits for the RONs will include bandwidth-on-demand for data-intensive applications, nationwide and local research collaboration and full remote activation and control.

"Our research and education community demands sophisticated and flexible networking infrastructure; Calient's DiamondWave switching platform was selected after careful examination," said Tom West, President and CEO of NLR. "It provides a reliable solution for our community and their need for an advanced infrastructure that supports both production and experimental research applications."

"We are excited to be a part of the next generation network that National LambdaRail is building across the country and look forward to a long and successful relationship," said Charles Corbalis, President & CEO of Calient. "NLR is at the cutting edge of IP-over-Optical network technology with their wide range of service offerings and will be a model for future service provider networks worldwide," he continued.

NLR represents the latest of many Calient wins in the National Research and Education Networking space. The company has previously deployed the PXC in Japan, including being a part of the Japanese Gigabit Network 2 (JGN2) backbone network, and has also deployed regionally in a number of accounts including MCNC and LONI in the US. Calient switches will enable increased international collaboration between projects on NLR and JGN2 networks part of the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF). Tom DeFanti who leads one of such distributed projects explains: "OptIPuter researchers have over three years of experience operating Calient optical switches and other electronic switches with the Photonic Interdomain Negotiator middleware. We are active participants in the GLIF Control Plane working group."

As a part of the agreement, Dr. John Bowers, Calient CTO and UCSB Professor, will join the NLR Science Research Council (SRC) to offer expertise in optical sciences and promote layer-1 research. Larry Smarr, a member of the NLR SRC and Director of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) adds: "More access to and control of the optical layer is key to enabling new applications which are uniquely enabled by NLR. John is one of the nation's leading optical networking researchers and his addition to the NLR SRC will greatly strengthen NLR's ability to leverage the best optical technologies for empowering innovative applications."

For additional information contact Calient at [e-mail] or National LambdaRail at [e-mail].

About National LambdaRail

National LambdaRail, Inc. (NLR) is a major initiative of U.S. research universities and private sector technology companies to provide a national scale infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking technologies and applications. NLR puts the control, the power and the promise of experimental network infrastructure in the hands of our nation's scientists and researchers. Visit http://www.nlr.net for more information.

About Calient Networks, Inc.

Calient Networks is a provider of all-optical switching solutions designed to address a diverse set of challenges facing today's telecommunications carriers, large enterprises, research and government organizations, and optical network equipment providers. Calient's DiamondWave(R) all-optical switching systems and GMPLS-powered networking innovations are highly cost-effective, reduce operation expenses and enable new revenue-generating optical services. Calient is shipping its DiamondWave products to production networks and labs worldwide. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. Additional engineering and manufacturing operations are located in Santa Barbara, Calif. and in Ithaca, N.Y. For additional information about Calient, visit www.calient.net.

Calient, Calient Networks, the Calient Networks logo, DiamondWave, the DiamondWave logo and "Where Innovation Comes to Light" are registered trademarks of Calient Networks, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other marks used in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

Copyright (R) 2006 Calient Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

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