CIENA, CABLE & WIRELESS FIRST TO DEPLOY 10G METROPOLITAN OPTICAL TRANSPORT SOLUTION
Cable & Wireless Using CIENA's Intelligent Optical Transport Systems To Support New OC-192 Connections Between Boston and New York City
Linthicum, MD — 07/10/2000Ciena Corporation (CIEN) today announced that Cable & Wireless (NYSE: CWP), the global telecommunications group, is the first service provider to deploy Ciena's market-leading OC-192/STM-64 (10Gbps) intelligent optical transport systems in metropolitan area optical networks. Cable & Wireless has installed Ciena's MultiWave Metro™ systems in Boston and New York to support its new OC-192 links between these two major markets.
Last summer, Cable & Wireless began deploying Ciena's MultiWave Metro systems across its next-generation IP network in the U.S. With new 10Gbps IP routers and optical connections becoming an integral part of the burgeoning long-haul and metropolitan network traffic mix, Ciena's first-to-market 10G metro systems have become increasingly important for the delivery of new optical services to customers across metropolitan and access networks.
"We're looking to keep our network on the leading edge of capacity, speed and flexibility, and Ciena's intelligent 10G capabilities set the new industry standard for meeting these requirements in the local loop," said Wesley Ford, Senior Director of Transmission Engineering at Cable & Wireless. "Ciena is the only optical networking supplier that can quickly meet our 10G metro needs today. We consider Ciena one of the leading suppliers in strategic, high-speed intelligent optical networking.
Cable & Wireless required a cost-effective, carrier-class 10Gbps solution for interconnecting points of presence within its metropolitan networks, and Ciena provides that solution. In addition to being the first to enable 10G intelligent optical transport across metro networks, MultiWave Metro offers features such as open interfaces, arbitrary connectivity, flexible channel assignments and SONET/SDH performance monitoring to give service providers freedom to optimize their networks for the delivery of new services. MultiWave Metro also provides optional, built-in automatic protection switching capabilities that can be enabled on a per-channel basis.
"The fact that we're now seeing 10G evolve from the optical core into the metropolitan space is a major development for the industry," said Chris Nicoll, Director of Optical Infrastructure for Current Analysis. "Driving this kind of intelligent bandwidth closer to the customer really opens up new market opportunities in metropolitan networks - not only for Ciena, but also for the service providers looking for new ways to deliver unique applications and services to their users."
Cable & Wireless began deploying Ciena's MultiWave Metro systems in 20 U.S. cities last year, and is continuing Metro deployments in 40 additional cities through 2000.
"Ciena has established its leading position in intelligent optical solutions for metropolitan networks by working closely with service providers to quickly develop and deliver innovative systems that meet their strategic business objectives," said Patrick Nettles, Ciena's President and CEO. "With OC-192 router interfaces now available, our 10G metro capability provides compatible transport facilities to simplify metro network design, driving down the cost-per-bit in local networks, and laying the foundation for simpler, smarter optical networks for substantial operational and economic advantages."
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.
Cable & Wireless is a major global telecommunications business with annual revenue of over US$14 billion and customers in 70 countries. Its businesses around the world offer a range of services spanning broadband data, Internet and voice services. Cable & Wireless' priority for expansion is the fast growing market of IP (Internet Protocol) and data services for business customers. It is making major investments in developing advanced networks and services in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region to build the world's leading global IP infrastructure. With the capacity of this advanced infrastructure and its presence in key business markets, Cable & Wireless holds a unique position in terms of global coverage and services to business customers.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions of the Company that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release, including, but not limited to, the MultiWave Metro being the first to market, the ability of MultiWave Metro to enable optical network scalability and reliability, and 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
