CIENA AND CABLE & WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS COMPLETE EUROPE'S LARGEST DWDM NETWORK
Announce Plans for Second UK Installation
Linthicum, MD — 02/25/1998Ciena Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN) today announced that Cable & Wireless Communications, the United Kingdom's first integrated telecommunications and multi-media service provider, has completed deployment of the largest dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network in Europe. Ciena's MultiWave Sentry™ has been installed and is now carrying live commercial traffic between the United States and mainland Europe through the UK.
Ciena also announced it has been awarded a second contract from Cable & Wireless Communications for equipment deployment in its Germany 6 project. In a second UK installation, Ciena's 16-channel MultiWave Sentry systems, complete with WaveWatcher® Network Management software, will be deployed along four interconnected routes within Cable & Wireless' Germany 6 project, now under construction. Equipment installation in the backhaul routes for international voice and data traffic received from transatlantic fiber optic cables between London and Germany is expected to begin during the first calendar quarter of 1998.
The deployment of Ciena's MultiWave Sentry allows Cable & Wireless Communications to multiply by 16 times its fiber optic network capacity, reducing the expense of laying new cable as well as eliminating the use of costly regenerators. It also provides Cable & Wireless with the most advanced technology available today for fiber optic networks, and places Cable & Wireless clearly on the path toward optical networking.
"The enhanced bandwidth afforded by Ciena's equipment has been a critical component in the successful deployment of Cable & Wireless' backbone for its GEMINI project," stated Mark Heraghty, managing director of Cable & Wireless Communications' International and Partner Services Business Unit. "The capacity required by the Germany 6 routes represent another ideal application of Ciena's DWDM technology."
"Deregulation has raised the stakes for international service providers, creating the need for more apparent service differentiation," said Gary Smith, Ciena's vice president, international sales. "With rising demand for more bandwidth-hungry applications on capacity constrained networks, the rapid and economical access to greater bandwidth offered by Ciena's MultiWave Sentry gives Cable & Wireless Communications a significant competitive advantage."
Ciena specializes in network transition. We provide the flexible platforms, intelligent software and professional services to build converged networks for enhanced services and applications. With a growing global presence, Ciena leverages its heritage of practical innovation to deliver maximum performance and economic value in communications networks worldwide. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.
Cable & Wireless Communications is the newly formed communications company comprising Bell Cablemedia, Mercury Communications, NYNEX and Videotron. Cable & Wireless Communications is the UK operating arm of Cable & Wireless plc.
Cable & Wireless is one of the world's leading providers of international telecommunications services. Its businesses provide over 10 million customers in over 50 countries with a complete range of international, domestic and mobile communications. Cable & Wireless is the world's third largest carrier of international traffic, provides mobile communications in 30 countries and operates the world's largest, most advanced cableship fleet.
Forward-looking statements in this release, including statements regarding the expected timing of installation of Ciena's equipment in the Germany 6 project during the first calendar quarter is 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 and their spending patterns, the challenge of transitioning to the manufacture of multiple product lines in fiscal 1998, 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 Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 19, 1998.
Nicole Anderson
Ciena Corporation
(877) 857 -7377
pr@ciena.com
Marie Downing
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243-6223
ir@ciena.com
