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CIENA Corporation Launches Its DWDM System

Ciena Corporation announced today that Teleway Japan Corporation has agreed to deploy Ciena's dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system in the major Tokyo -to -Osaka portion of Teleway's fiber optic network.

Installation of Ciena's MultiWaveTM 1600 DWDM system will permit Teleway to immediately expand its fiber optic network capacity between Tokyo and Osaka by a factor of four and in the future by up to sixteen times without requiring the additional installation of expensive new optical fibers. The Teleway installation will be the first deployment of Ciena's equipment outside the U.S.

"In the increasingly deregulated and competitive global telecommunications market those carriers which can offer the highest capacity, the most reliable service and the lowest prices will have the competitive advantage," stated Mr. Tadahisa Sumida, Teleway Senior Managing Director, "and Ciena's high capacity MultiWaveTM and open systems architecture will help ensure that Teleway is the leading Japanese new common carrier in these areas."

Established in 1984 by the Toyota Motor Corporation and the Japanese Highway Association, Teleway is one of several of Japan's new common carriers (NCC). Teleway has demonstrated a history of being an early adopter of the latest in new telecommunications technologies. It was the first NCC in Japan to install synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) terminals, and concurrent with the installation of the Ciena DWDM systems, Teleway plans to upgrade the speed of its SDH equipment to 2.5 Gbps per channel. Combined with a 4-channel MultiWaveTM DWDM system, this will give Teleway the first 10 Gbps per optical fiber capacity in Japan.

Before DWDM technology, the useful capacity of standard optical fibers was limited to approximately 40,000 simultaneous telephone calls. By dividing an optical fiber into 16 individual lightwaves, Ciena's MultiWaveTM 1600 system can boost the carrying capacity of a single fiber to more than half a million simultaneous conversations. MultiWaveTM, coupled with Ciena's sophisticated network management system, WaveWatcher, and the new SDH terminals will provide Teleway with one of the most technologically advanced, high capacity fiber optic networks in the world.

Ciena also announced that Nissho Electronics Corporation has agreed to act as Ciena's exclusive MultiWaveTM distributor for Japan, and will assist with the Teleway installation. "Ciena is proud to announce that Teleway is our first international customer, and that Nissho will be a key Ciena channel to access the significant and growing Asian telecommunications market," stated Dr. Patrick Nettles, Ciena's president and chief executive officer. "Nissho Electronics is pleased to have been chosen by Ciena to support the MultiWaveTM installations at Teleway," responded Mr. Norio Saitoh, Nissho's executive vice president. "We expect that this will be the first of several deployments of MultiWaveTM systems at Teleway and that other carriers in Japan and Asia will want to follow Teleway's technological leadership," Mr. Norio Saitoh concluded. In addition to the Teleway installation, Nissho will establish a MultiWaveTM 1600 demonstration facility at the Nissho Ariake Visual Studio near the Tokyo "Big Site" convention center.

Ciena Corporation develops, manufactures and markets high-capacity fiber optic transmission systems for public networks. These systems unlock fiber bandwidth, improve network reliability and significantly reduce the cost of providing new broadband services. Ciena is providing real-life solutions today to combat the emerging bandwidth and capacity needs long-distance carriers will be faced with tomorrow.