Zhone Technologies Introduces 10-Port Fibre Channel Card; Card Provides Efficient Wavelength Usage By Aggregating Up To 10 Fibre Channels.

OAKLAND, Calif. & HANNOVER, Germany -- Zhone Technologies, Inc., (Nasdaq: ZHNE) the first company dedicated to building total-delivery solutions for voice, data and video content services worldwide, today announced the introduction of its GigaMux(TM) 6400 10-port Fibre Channel Card, GMDM10. The high density, 10-Port MultiService Multiplexer card enhances the GigaMux 6400 product, by offering support for Fibre Channel 1 & 2, FICON and Gigabit Ethernet.

Zhone's new GigaMux MultiService module is designed for the expanding storage area networking (SAN) arena, Gigabit Ethernet market, and for video-on-demand (VOD) transport applications. The new module encapsulates up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 8 Fibre Channel 1, 4 Fibre Channel 2 or any combination into a 10 Gigabit Wavelength. The 10-Port module supports a variety of Fibre Channel and SONET/SDH performance monitoring features. Additionally, the module will support buffer-to-buffer credits and can extend Fibre Channels up to 600 km in the future.

The new GigaMux 6400 line card, GMDM10 allows muxing up to 10 Gigabits for high bandwidth SAN applications. This allows more efficient use of optical bandwidth and wavelength by aggregating up to ten Fibre Channels, or Gigabit Ethernet signals onto a single Gbps wavelength.

Some of the key benefits include:

--Provides industry-leading aggregation capabilities of up to 10 Fibre Channels, or Gigabit Ethernet services per 10 Gbps wavelength or up to 2 services per 2.5 Gbps.

--Provides customers with investment protection by allowing support of both low and high density deployments with the same card

--Scales to support the network as new services are added

--Includes 10 client SFP ports and 1 trunk port

The GMDM10 supports 2 Gigabit Fibre channels, as well as 1 Gigabit Fibre Channels and Gigabit Ethernet. These can be used in any combination. The 10-Port Fibre Channel Card further extends Zhone GigaMux's industry leadership high bandwidth SAN applications, enabling support for newer services and end-to-end solutions.

The 10-Port MultiService GigaMux enhancements delivers greater density and operational savings. The company will feature its carrier and enterprise solutions at its CeBIT tradeshow booth in Hannover, Germany, from March 10 to March 16 (Hall 12, Booth E59).

Zhone Technologies continues to introduce products that make optical networking simple and cost-effective," commented Chris Garcia, Product Manager for Zhone. "The new-10 Port MultiService GigaMux module substantially reduces networking costs. Whether it is storage area networking, optical access, or carrier transport, Zhone Technologies has an optical networking solution optimized for each access, metro and regional application."

"Enterprise customers are looking for ways to consolidate their networks by extending DWDM beyond the SAN to incorporate all mission-critical applications and services on one infrastructure," added Garcia. "With these new features, we can deliver scalability to meet increasing capacity requirements and simultaneously support our customers' productivity levels."

About Zhone Technologies, Inc. (Zhone)

Zhone (NASDAQ: ZHNE) designs and manufactures network equipment for telephone companies and cable operators worldwide. Zhone's products allow network operators to deliver a rich array of voice, data, video, and entertainment services over their existing networks while simultaneously retooling for converged packet based voice (VoIP) and video (IPTV) over copper or fiber access lines.

Zhone's advanced networking solutions include the Single Line Multi-Service architecture (SLMS(TM)), Multi-Access Line Concentrator (MALC), Raptor(TM) ATM/IP DSLAMs, Zhone Residential Gateways (ZRG(TM)), GigaMux(TM) Optical Transport Systems and Zhone Management System (ZMS(TM)). With deployments at over 300 service providers including among some of the world's largest networks, Zhone has enabled network operators to reinvent their businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.zhone.com

Zhone, the Zhone logo, and all Zhone product names are trademarks of Zhone Technologies, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications, products, and/or product names are all subject to change without notice. Copyright 2004 Zhone Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.