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AT&T Selects CIENA For WDM Trial

New MultiWave Sentry To Be Tested

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today announced that it has signed a trial evaluation agreement with AT&T. Today's announcement reflects that Ciena's dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system has p assed AT&T's preliminary evaluation. The trial agreement calls for Ciena to supply six 16-channel (40 Gbps) MultiWaveTMsystems for laboratory interoperability testing.

AT&T has been deploying SONET in its network since 1995. AT&T has been evaluating DWDM system products, with enhancements to enable the use of multiple vendors in an open architecture, for deployment in its network. "We've been pleased by CIE NA's products and are very encouraged by the capacity and reliability the MultiWaveTMsystem can offer us. We also want to interoperate Ciena's product with multiple SONET vendors` add/drop mux (ADM) equipment," said George Gawrys, Manager of T ransport Planning for AT&T. "AT&T is moving quickly to be sure our overall network capacity keeps pace with our customers' needs, and Ciena's MultiWaveTM can be important in helping us achieve that goal."

"We are extremely gratified by this development," said Patrick Nettles, President and CEO of Ciena. "AT&T's move to a multi-vendor/open systems environment for its network created an exciting opportunity for Ciena. And the additional engineering and design work we've done to be responsive to AT&T's exacting requirements has substantially enhanced the feature set we can offer with the MultiWaveTM system.".

AT&T will be testing Ciena's new MultiWave SentryTM, which will be demonstrated by Ciena at the SuperComm trade show in New Orleans, June 3-5. This product is the next generation DWDM transport system, which employs standard short-reach , open interfaces, allowing maximum interoperability in AT&T's multi-vendor SONET environment. Other features include long-reach receivers to ensure transmission integrity, and an enhanced TMN-based network management system.

The trial evaluation agreement is being undertaken with a view toward possible implementation beginning in 1998.

Ciena Corporation is a leading supplier of DWDM systems to long distance fiberoptic telecommunications carriers. Ciena's DWDM systems alleviate capacity constraints and enable flexible provisioning of additional bandwidth on high-traffic routes in car riers' networks. Additional information on the company can be found on its World Wide Web site: http//www.Ciena.com.

NOTE: Forward-looking statements in this release 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 by such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s dependence on its major customers, the recent introduction of its products, and the overall management of its expansion. The forward-looking statements should be considered in the context of these and other risk factors disclosed in the Company’s report on Form 8-K, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 19, 1997, as supplemented by the discussion of risk considerations in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 22, 1997.