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CIENA ADOPTS STOCKHOLDER RIGHTS PLAN

Files Form 8-K to Provide Details of Plan; Also Updates Discussion of Pirelli Litigation

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) announced today that its Board of Directors has adopted a Stockholder Rights Plan. Details of the Plan are set forth in a Form 8-K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In an unrelated matter, the Company also indicated it was providing in the Form 8-K an update to its discussion of the Company's pending patent litigation with Pirelli SpA.

Stockholder Rights Plan

Ciena's Stockholder Rights Plan is designed to deter any potential coercive or unfair takeover tactics in the future that may attempt to deprive the Company and its stockholders of the opportunity to obtain the most attractive price for their shares. This plan was adopted by Ciena's Board of Directors following several months of evaluation and after consultation with its outside advisors, as part of a review of overall corporate governance issues appropriate to a newly public company.

The Rights Plan is similar to those adopted by more than 1,700 publicly-traded companies. Under the Plan, the Board has granted Rights to Ciena's stockholders at the rate of one Right for each share of Common Stock held of record as of the close of business on January 8, 1998. Under certain circumstances, the Rights become exercisable for shares of Ciena Common Stock, or shares of an acquiring entity's stock, having a value twice that of the exercise price of the Rights.

At the time of adoption of the Rights Plan, the Rights are neither exercisable nor traded separately from the Common Stock. The Rights will become exercisable only if a person or group acquires 15% or more of the Company's Common Stock or announces a tender or exchange offer which would result in its ownership of 15% or more of the Company's Common Stock.

Adoption of the Rights Plan is a pro-active move by the Company's Board of Directors, intended to protect the rights of Ciena's stockholders. The Plan was not undertaken in response to any acquisition proposal or anticipated action to acquire the Company.

Investors and interested parties are referred to the Company's Form 8-K filed with the SEC concurrently herewith for further details of the Company's adoption of the Stockholder Rights Plan.

Update on Pending Litigation

In its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on December 10, 1997, Ciena detailed the status of its legal proceedings with Pirelli SpA (Pirelli) in a series of related patent litigation disputes which have been ongoing in three jurisdictions, including the U.S. District Court of Virginia and the U.S. District Court in Delaware.

In its Form 8-K filed today, the Company updates those discussions to reflect the effects of subsequent events including recent developments in the Virginia proceedings and receipt of a new complaint filed in Delaware, alleging willful infringement by the Company of two additional U.S. patents held by Pirelli.

The patent claims cited in the new Delaware complaint were known to and evaluated by the Company prior to the new complaint. The Company continues to believe that its MultiWaveÒ systems do not infringe any valid claims of any patents held by Pirelli, and will continue to defend itself vigorously.

Because of the complex nature of this ongoing litigation, investors and interested parties are asked to refer to the Company's Form 8-K filed with the SEC concurrently herewith to gain understanding of these latest developments in the context of those which preceded.