Ciena Harnesses 40G/100G Expertise to Enable Seamless Upgrades in the Field

Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced plans to demonstrate how its advanced technologies and expertise with 40G and 100G solutions can now help service providers travel ultra long haul terrestrial and trans-oceanic distances at 40G speeds, improve network flexibility and speed time-to-service. Following its acquisition of the optical networking and Carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel’s⁺ Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business, CIENA will also show interworking of its CN 4200^® FlexSelect^® Advanced Services Platform with the Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500. These demonstrations will be on display at OFC/NFOEC this week in San Diego, Calif.

"While other vendors are still working to develop advanced optical technologies such as coherent solutions, Ciena is ahead of the market,” said Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Ciena. "With leading technologies like 100G already commercially available and shipping, we’re applying our innovation expertise and focus on converged optical Ethernet to conquer new challenges and meet the next-generation networking requirements of our customers. Our presence at OFC/NFOEC will showcase these capabilities while also offering a view into our expanded portfolio with the acquisition of the Nortel MEN assets.”

Ciena will offer product and interoperability demonstrations on the OFC/NFOEC exhibit floor in both its mobile Innovation Lab and an adjacent booth space. These demos will include:

• Ciena’s industry-leading 100G technology, using coherent detection and spanning more than 1,500 km. Coherent solutions, which Ciena is the first and only vendor to successfully commercialize to date, enable advanced modulation formats that allow 40G and 100G transmission over most of today’s existing optical infrastructure. Ciena will also demonstrate its 100G solution’s ability to retain signal integrity and adapt for high levels of chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion (PMD), as well as PMD transients, which become increasingly difficult to accommodate at 100G speeds.
• 40G optical connectivity between the OME 6500 and CN 4200, with both platforms operating under Ciena’s ON-Center^® Network and Service Management Suite – demonstrating the seamless transition available to current network management. This interworking demonstration represents the first step of the CienaOne unified network management strategy that will provide a consistent set of operational tools across the combined portfolio.
• A 40G ultra long haul network spanning an unregenerated distance of 3,100 km, demonstrating Ciena’s ability to support the upgrade of today’s most challenging terrestrial routes. The same technology can be repurposed for submarine applications to span trans-oceanic distances up to 9,000 km, allowing operators to upgrade their subsea links from 2.5G and 10G to 40G.
• Ciena will also be showing how coherent technology can be used for colorless networking, bringing forth new levels of flexibility and faster time-to-service for operators. Colorless network architectures simplify network planning and remove any dependency to fixed wavelength frequencies, allowing operators to turn up and re-route services remotely across their network without field visits.

Ciena’s 40G ultra long haul, colorless and 100G network demonstrations at OFC/NFOEC are operating over 1,500 km of Corning^® SMF-28^® ULL fiber and 1,600 km of Corning^® LEAF^® fiber. Corning SMF-28 ULL is an ultra-low loss standard single-mode optical fiber that can extend the reach of 100G transmission by ~30-35% compared to other standard single-mode fibers, and enables the 100G demonstration to travel a full 1,500 km without the need for regeneration and with adequate margin. The 40G/100G demonstrations span between the Ciena booth (#CV-310) and Corning booth (#2141), and include an OME 6500 platform with 100G interfaces in the Corning booth.

Ciena’s 100G solution is the only customer-ready 100G solution in the industry today, and is already deployed and operational in live service provider and enterprise networks. Ciena’s 40G and 100G solutions are based on technologies such as coherent detection, DP QPSK modulation, and advanced electronic digital signal processing techniques, all of which Ciena is the first and only vendor to successfully commercialize to date.

Ciena is also participating in a multitude of technical sessions, workshops and panel discussions at the conference. Follow Ciena’s activities at OFC/NFOEC on the new Ciena blog or Ciena’s Twitter feed.

About Ciena

Ciena specializes in practical network transition. We offer leading network infrastructure solutions, intelligent software and a comprehensive services practice to help our customers use their networks to fundamentally change the way they compete. With a global presence, Ciena leverages its heritage of practical innovation to deliver maximum performance and economic value in communications networks worldwide. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

Note to Ciena Investors

Forward-looking statements. 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 March 5, 2010. 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.

⁺'Nortel' is a trademark of Nortel Networks, used under license by Ciena.