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CIENA ANNOUNCES NEW CORESTREAM CAPABILITIES TO ENABLE END-TO-END DATA SERVICE OFFERINGS AND LOWER NETWORK COSTS

New CoreStream Features Increase Level of Automation for Carrier Core Transport Networks

Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), a leading provider of global network solutions, today announced enhancements to its CoreStream™ long-haul optical transport platform that are designed to extend efficient data service delivery while lowering the overall cost of delivering new and existing service offerings.

New CoreStream features include 1- and 10-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) support, tunable transceivers and next-generation integrated line amplifiers (ILAs). These capabilities enable automated, carrier-class support across the wide area network (WAN). The features reduce expenses by providing lower-cost data interfaces in the core – while also greatly reducing sparing, logistics and maintenance costs. In addition, these features provide a seamless migration path to more dynamic next-generation networks.

“Network operators need to employ any and all promising techniques to lower the cost and improve the profitability of providing service today and, as they evolve their networks to meet new requirements, tomorrow. Product enhancements, such as these announced for CoreStream, address network operator needs for immediate, practical cost reduction and lead toward a longer-term vision of the network,” said Dana Cooperson, group and program director, optical networks, at research and advisory services company RHK, Inc. “Improving the cost of native Gigabit Ethernet support across a network using standards-based approaches, lowering sparing costs, and positioning today’s networks for tomorrow’s more dynamic, switched requirements are critical actions for network operators.”

“Innovation in the core must be driven by economics, and our approach to evolving the CoreStream platform continues to be based on the business needs of service providers,” said Francois Locoh-Donou, vice president of marketing for Ciena. “Supporting our ongoing LightWorks™ Services strategy, this generation of CoreStream enables service providers to deliver their current WAN services at significantly lower costs, and it provides a more efficient core.”

LightWorks Services is Ciena’s approach to helping service providers use their existing infrastructure to make current services more profitable and to capitalize on new opportunities in enterprise data services without having to build and manage overlay data networks.

GbE and 10GbE Support
Ideal for high-performance data backbones, CoreStream’s Gigabit Ethernet capabilities enable direct connection to client ports at full GbE and 10GbE rates. Interconnecting core routers across long-haul and ultra long-haul distances with CoreStream reduces cost significantly between point-to-point router ports by replacing TDM interfaces with lower-cost GbE interfaces. CoreStream’s GbE and 10GbE support is scheduled for release by the end of calendar 2003.

Tunable Transceivers
CoreStream’s new transceivers incorporate tunable lasers to reduce network capital and operating costs by streamlining laser hardware, simplifying management with remote dynamic provisioning, and dramatically lowering maintenance and sparing requirements – reducing the number of required circuit packs by more than 90 percent. CoreStream’s tunable transceivers are scheduled for release this summer.

Integrated Line Amplifiers
CoreStream’s integrated line amplifiers create cost savings as a single amplifier for all applications, reducing the number of circuit packs to maintain and spare by 50 percent. It also supports transient suppression, a technique that allows the system to recover more quickly in the event of a transient caused by a fiber cut or network failure. CoreStream’s ILAs are scheduled for release this summer.

CoreStream ships today as the only open platform that employs both 50GHz and 25GHz channel spacing, depending on the application. 25GHz channel spacing allows CoreStream to carry 192 10G wavelengths in the C-band alone. Automated by embedded software from Ciena’s LightWorks OS, CoreStream is designed as a single-platform transport solution. Service providers may choose any combination of features to customize the platform, applying only the technologies required for specific applications and network nodes. This approach helps keep costs down while enabling service providers to rely on one intelligent platform for the delivery of carrier-class data and voice services across the entire network.