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CIENA UNVEILS STRATEGIC COMPONENT CAPABILITIES

CIENA Reveals 25 and 12 ½ Ghz Channel Spacing via Fiber Bragg Grating Filters; Also Reveals Ability to Produce Thin-Film Filters

Ciena Corporation, (NASDAQ: CIEN) a global provider of intelligent optical networking systems, today announced plans to further strengthen its MultiWave CoreStream™ optical transport system performance capabilities by introducing 25 Ghz and 12 ½ Ghz channel spacing, an industry first that will enable new levels of channel density in its DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) optical transport systems. In addition, it was also announced that Ciena has developed and established an in-house manufacturing capability to produce thin-film dielectric optical filters.

Ciena has successfully tested both 25 Ghz and 12 ½ Ghz channel spacing in its CoreStream DWDM system using fiber Bragg gratings. This development enables precise channel spacing and will make it possible for Ciena to significantly increase the channel count in its long-distance DWDM optical transport systems, expanding throughput to an industry-leading 16 terabits per second. As a result, service providers will be able to scale network capacity further than ever before. Both the 25 Ghz and 12 ½ Ghz channel spacing will be commercially available in Ciena's CoreStream systems in 2001.

Ciena was the first in the industry to commercially deploy optical transport systems using 50 Ghz spaced fiber Bragg gratings, beginning with its 40-channel MultiWave Sentry™ 4000 during its second fiscal quarter of 1998. Currently, Ciena internally produces all of the 50 Ghz and 100 Ghz fiber Bragg grating filters used in its DWDM optical transport systems.

"With Ciena's 25 Ghz and 12 ½ Ghz channel spacing, carriers can more than double the capacity of the bandwidth in their network system without increasing operational costs or obsoleting existing common equipment, " said Jeff Livas, chief technology officer of Ciena's Transmission Division. "Ciena has led the industry in bandwidth capacity and spectral efficiencies since the development of CoreStream and continues to improve the product's performance."

"Ciena has made a commitment to its customers to develop and deliver forward-looking technology that enables network scalability at lower operating costs. We will continue to focus development and research to address service providers' escalating demands," Livas said. "The enhancement announced today will make it possible for Ciena to continue to provide the most comprehensive optical transport system available on the market."

Ciena also acknowledged today the establishment of an in-house manufacturing capability to produce thin-film dielectric optical filters. These proprietary designed optical filters are primarily used in optical amplifiers to enhance the performance of Ciena's optical transport products.

"The worldwide demand for bandwidth has created a shortage of some key optical components," said Chuck Busch, vice president of Ciena's Advanced Technology group. "Our ability to manufacture thin-film optical filters gives us the capability to supplement our on-going purchases from our strategic component vendors as well as a controlled component supply for Ciena's internal research and development efforts."

"Ciena's systems knowledge and world-class optical assembly capability is a significant strategic and competitive advantage; one that's enabled us to consistently deliver high-performing, industry-leading optical systems," said Patrick Nettles, Ciena's president and CEO. "In addition, our ability to produce and reliably manufacture key components like fiber Bragg gratings, has been critical in ensuring optimal system performance."

"We'll continue to look for opportunities like these where we can add value by leveraging our component and optical systems expertise," concluded Nettles. "We'll also continue to work hand-in-hand with our strategic component suppliers to help drive advances in component technology and manufacturing efficiencies."