NEXTLINK CHOOSES CIENA OPTICAL SYSTEMS TO "LIGHT" NEXT-GENERATION NORTH AMERICAN BACKBONE NETWORK
NEXTLINK Lights First Section of its Inter-city Network in the "Texas Triangle"
McLEAN, Va & LINTHICUM, Md — 07/24/2000NEXTLINK Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXLK), one of the world's fastest growing providers of broadband communications services, and Ciena Corp. (CIEN), today announced they have signed a five-year contract, with an initial phase worth an estimated $120 million, for deploying Ciena's LightWorks™ optical networking solutions to light NEXTLINK's 16,000-mile, inter-city, fiber-optic network. NEXTLINK also announced that the first segments of the network, connecting Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, are now operational.
These first deployments of Ciena optical systems in three Texas cities - referred to internally at NEXTLINK as the "Texas Triangle" - provides intelligent, high-capacity optical connections between NEXTLINK's local fiber networks. The initial phase of NEXTLINK's nationwide deployment of Ciena systems is scheduled to occur over the next 18 months as additional segments of the inter-city fiber network are delivered to NEXTLINK. Once complete, this IP-centric network will connect more than 60 major U.S. and Canadian cities.
"NEXTLINK's strategy is to become a leading broadband service provider across the U.S. and internationally by building the most innovative, dynamic network to quickly provision and market voice and data services," said NEXTLINK Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson. "Clearly, ownership of an intelligent, simplified and flexible inter-city fiber network gives NEXTLINK another distinct competitive advantage and enables us to leapfrog legacy network operators."
Initially, NEXTLINK is deploying Ciena's MultiWave CoreStream™ intelligent optical transport systems for long-haul networking. The contract also allows NEXTLINK the option to deploy MultiWave Metro™ for metropolitan area networking and MultiWave CoreDirector™ intelligent optical switching systems for high-bandwidth switching, service restoration and provisioning. NEXTLINK plans to begin lab trials of CoreDirector shortly.
With Ciena's CoreStream systems, NEXTLINK's network will be scalable up to 70 wavelengths per fiber at a speed of OC-192 (10Gbps) per wavelength. NEXTLINK expects that it will become the first service provider to light more than 40 wavelengths at OC-192 on a single fiber. CoreStream also will enable NEXTLINK to avoid costly signal regenerations, which must occur every 600 km for each wavelength in other legacy networks. As a result of the deployment of Ciena's equipment, NEXTLINK's inter-city network can operate at a lower cost, and embedded networking intelligence will significantly improve provisioning times for new services.
"Ciena is working closely with NEXTLINK as it expands into new areas of networking and service delivery," said Patrick Nettles, president and CEO of Ciena. "NEXTLINK quickly has developed a reputation for aggressive, strategic moves that support its vision of true broadband service delivery. A fast-growing company such as NEXTLINK requires agility from its suppliers as well as its network. With Ciena as a cornerstone of its nationwide backbone, NEXTLINK can realize the network speed and functionality needed for delivering superior service offerings."
Ciena Corporation's market-leading optical networking systems form the core for the new era of networks and services worldwide. Ciena's LightWorks™ architecture enables next-generation optical services and changes the fundamental economics of service-provider networks by simplifying the network and reducing the cost to operate it. Additional information about Ciena can be found at http://www.ciena.com.
NEXTLINK Communications is one of the world's fastest growing providers of broadband communications services offering local and long distance voice communication services, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access, Web hosting and e-commerce service, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), dedicated access, global transit and application infrastructure services for delivering applications over the Internet or a VPN. NEXTLINK has assembled an unrivaled set of facilities-based broadband networks that, when complete, will serve much of the United States, Canada and Europe. In the United States, NEXTLINK has more than 410,000 metro fiber miles in operation and a 384,000 fiber-mile inter-city network under construction. The Company is also North America's largest holder of fixed broadband wireless spectrum, with licenses covering 95 percent of the population of the 30 largest U.S. cities and a partnership with licenses covering all of the top cities in Canada. NEXTLINK has also agreed in principle to acquire more than 80,000 metro fiber miles in Europe to serve the London, Frankfurt, Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris markets and an 88,000 fiber-mile pan-European fiber network connecting 21 major European cities and transatlantic capacity that will eventually expand to 10 Gbps. For more information, visit http://www.nextlink.com.
The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements include those describing NEXTLINK's planned European and domestic networks. Management wishes to caution the reader that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the ability of NEXTLINK to negotiate and reach definitive agreements relating to the purchase of the European network on satisfactory terms, the ability of NEXTLINK to integrate its pre-merger business and operations with those of Concentric, NEXTLINK's ability to design and construct fiber optic networks, install cable and facilities, including switching electronics, to develop, install and provision LMDS equipment and interconnect that equipment with NEXTLINK's fiber networks and connect the networks, including LMDS equipment, to customers and on satisfactory terms and conditions, and risks related to NEXTLINK's national network strategy. NEXTLINK's business is subject to other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in NEXTLINK's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2000.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions of Ciena (the Company) that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release, including, but not limited to, the timing and anticipated $120 million value of the initial phase of NEXTLINK's network build out, the size of NEXTLINK's network, the scalability of the Company's products, the cost savings, deployment timing and network management benefits of the Company's products, 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 in such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business, which include the risk factors disclosed in the Company's Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 18, 2000. Forward looking statements include statements regarding the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Nicole Anderson
Ciena Corporation
(877) 857 -7377
pr@ciena.com
Marie Downing
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243-6223
ir@ciena.com