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WorldCom, Inc. Signs Contract With CIENA

Ciena Corporation announced today that it has signed a contract with WorldCom, Inc. to be its exclusive supplier of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems through 1997. Ciena has completed a successful field trial with WorldCom, Inc. and deployment will begin immediately.

Installation of Ciena's MultiWaveTM 1600 DWDM system will allow WorldCom to expand the capacity or bandwidth of its current 12,000 mile fiber optic network by up to 16 times. Before installation of a Ciena MultiWaveTM 1600 system, the useful capacity of a standard optical fiber was limited to approximately 40,000 simultaneous telephone calls. Ciena's system divides the signal on an optical fiber into 16 individual light waves, boosting carrying capacity to more than half a million simultaneous conversations.

"WorldCom's history of WDM deployments makes the 16 wavelength Ciena DWDM system a natural progression in increasing capacity, " said Russ Ray, WorldCom's vice president of engineering. "Ciena's MultiWaveTM is going to help us realize that goal." WorldCom, Inc. is aggressively increasing capacity by new fiber construction coupled with DWDM, while deploying SONET rings which will provide its customers with robust restoration capabilities.

Ciena also recently announced the launch of its DWDM system internationally and is marketing it in Asia and Europe as well as North America.

The Ciena MultiWaveTM 1600 system is a high capacity, optical transmission system that enables aggregate transmission capacities up to 40 Gb/s over existing fiber facilities. Sixteen optical channels can be transmitted over one fiber. Each channel is bit-rate transparent from 150 Mb/s to 2.5 Gb/s and operates with existing SONET/SDH/Asynchronous fiber optic terminals. The MultiWaveTM 1600 system incorporates optical amplifiers to extend the transmission range and is equipped with an optical service channel, an integrated network management system and voice orderwire capability.

WorldCom is a leading provider of integrated long distance and local telecommunications services, offering domestic and international voice, data, Internet and video products and services to business customers, other carriers and the residential market. The company operates a nationwide digital fiber optic network in the United States and has worldwide network capacity. Its World Wide Web address is: http://www.com.com. The common and depositary shares of WorldCom trade on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbols WCOM and WCOMP, respectively.

Ciena Corporation designs, manufactures and sells DWDM fiber optic transmission systems for long distance fiber optic telecommunications networks. These systems increase fiber bandwidth, can aid in improving network reliability and enhance the ability of network operators to offer new broadband services. Ciena believes it is a worldwide market leader in field deployment of open architecture DWDM systems.