New CIR Report Provides Insight Into Strategies of BellSouth and Qwest.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 2001

Communications Industry Researchers, Inc (CIR), a leading market research and industry analyst firm, announces a new report that provides insights into the optical networking strategies of U.S. Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) BellSouth and Qwest.

Included in the report is a discussion of the companies' perspectives on suppliers such as Ciena, Nortel, Lucent, Cisco, ONI, Tellabs and others, as well as CIR's analysis of the wholesale wavelength services market.

The Wavelength Services Market:

CIR believes that the wholesale lambda services market will remain limited to the CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) space for the foreseeable future. Some of the CLECs, such as metro carrier's carriers like Sigma and Telseon, are seeing more interest in wholesale lambda services (at OC-48 rates and higher) than they are in their retail Ethernet businesses. And, while both Yipes and Cogent like to promote themselves as retailers, they are, in fact, doing quite well in the wholesale business.

The RBOCs meanwhile, face a morass of regulatory issues with respect to the wholesale wavelength business and until the state PUCs (Public Utility Commissions) and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) relax the requirements on service pricing, the RBOCs will continue to sit on the sidelines. CIR states that if and when the RBOCs can begin to utilize the benefits of DWDM technology well beyond that of simply optimizing their own networks, the optical networking sector will see a tremendous boom with respect to hardware, software and service revenues.

Metro Optical Companies to Watch:

CIR notes that within the BellSouth account, Cisco, Tellabs and ONI seem to be creating positive impressions with key people, but Lucent, Nortel and Ciena were found to be lagging in terms of product features and keeping up with customer requirements with respect to metro optical products. Within Qwest, CIR found that Cisco, ONI, Alcatel and surprisingly, Nortel, were receiving high marks for their products, especially from the old U.S. West portion. Ciena and Tellabs were not, however, seen to be in the running for metro DWDM technology, at least on the regulated side, but Ciena's CoreDirector product might see some interest from the regulated side if it completes the OSMINE process.

The report is available from CIR starting at $895.00 (U.S.) and may be purchased via its web site: <A HREF = "http://www.cir-inc.com/index.cfm?loc=pages/optical_watch"> www.cir-inc.com or by contacting Robert Nolan via email: [e-mail].

CIR is a leading industry analyst firm specializing in fiber optic networking systems, software and components. Through its reports, market advisory services, and custom client engagements, CIR provides insightful research, analysis, and consulting services for the optical market. CIR relies upon service provider activities and "demand side" research as the basis for its opinions and forecasts, so as to provide realistic and credible analysis and insights for both its clients and the industry at large.