CIENA LAUNCHES ONLINE METRO SERVICE AGGREGATOR, DESIGNED TO HELP CARRIERS IMPROVE SERVICE MARGINS
LightWorks™ Services Product Provides Multi-Service Transport and Add/Drop Capability to Metro Carrier Deployments
ATLANTA — 06/03/2003Ciena® Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN), a leading provider of global network solutions, announced today that it is introducing the ONLINE Metro™ Service Aggregator (SA), a universal multiplexing and transport platform for metropolitan networks. The ONLINE Metro SA allows carriers to deploy a single, flexible product that will replace and augment SONET/SDH and data services equipment. This new product is expected to result in lower capital and operating costs, as well as providing carriers with the ability to offer services more quickly. The Metro SA is commercially available today in SONET and SDH versions.
The Metro SA will enable carriers to support multiple data services, such as OC-3/12/48, STM-1/4/16, Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel, all from one platform. Today, carriers deploy separate pieces of equipment for each service, on multiple networks. With the Metro SA, carriers can provide all the services from a common platform over a single network, resulting in significant power, space and equipment-sparing costs.
The other key benefit that carriers will appreciate is the capability of the Metro SA to support several important functions all from a single platform. For example, today, carriers are required to use several types of equipment to aggregate and multiplex TDM, packet and SAN services. The Metro SA replaces each of these legacy boxes with a single module (card). Besides simplifying the network, carriers realize savings in power consumption and space.
In addition to the economic advantages of the Metro SA, this product can support both dense and sparse fiber applications. This unique feature gives carriers greater flexibility in their networks, as well as reducing the amount of equipment.
“Ciena’s ONLINE Metro SA is an important element in our LightWorks™ Services approach to enhancing carrier service profitability,” said Dawn Hogh, senior vice president of product line management for Ciena. “We believe the combination of replacing multiple pieces of equipment and enabling a wide variety of services, all at once, make it a compelling economic solution for carriers worldwide.”
The launch of the Metro SA is the first “edge service delivery” announcement in Ciena’s LightWorks Services initiative, announced in May, which focuses on improving service profitability for carriers. As part of the initiative, Ciena is introducing a series of product enhancements and new products focused on network automation, data-centric features on existing platforms and new, edge service delivery products.
Ciena Corporation delivers innovative network solutions to the world's largest service providers, increasing the cost-efficiency of current services while enabling the creation of new carrier-class data services built upon the existing network infrastructure. Additional information about Ciena can be found at www.ciena.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions of Ciena (the Company) that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release, including but not limited to the cost savings associated with deployment of Ciena’s Metro SA, are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof. The Company’s actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business, which include the risk factors disclosed in the Company’s Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 22, 2003. Forward looking statements include statements regarding the Company’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. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Nicole Anderson
Ciena Corporation
(877) 857 -7377
pr@ciena.com
Marie Downing
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243-6223
ir@ciena.com
