Telecom Development (TD) Signs 5-Year DWDM Contract with CIENA
Marks First Commercial DWDM Deployment in France
Linthicum, MD — 06/25/1998Ciena Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN) today announced that it has signed, jointly with CS Telecom France, a 5-year contract with Telecom Developpement (TD) of France to supply the MultiWave Sentry™ and MultiWave Firefly™ dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems for immediate deployment. TD is a subsidiary of SNCF (French Railways) and Cegetel, a major private French global operator. Ciena has shipped equipment for the first route supporting TD's Paris to Lyon link. Live traffic is expected on this route by early fall 1998, marking the first commercial deployment of DWDM in France.
"To meet the new requirements of businesses and the general public, TD has to upgrade its existing network to give us the extra voice processing and data transmission power needed to support new innovative services," said Marc Noblet, TD's managing director in charge of the network. "DWDM is one of the technologies that will help us to quickly achieve our goals. Ciena was awarded this contract based on its superior technology, product availability and market leadership."
"We are pleased to include TD in our growing list of European customers," said Gary Smith, Ciena's vice president of international sales. "Ciena's ability to win several high-profile international customers offers proof not only of an emerging market for DWDM at growing competitive carriers worldwide, but also demonstrates the leverage of Ciena's proven DWDM field experience."
Telecom Developpement is responsible for operating and maintaining the network for Cegetel. Cegetel, a French carrier, offers a full range of telecommunications services both domestically and internationally. It started commercial operation in February, 1998, and is the second largest global operator in France.
Cegetel's decision to become a global telecommunications operator has resulted in a commitment to install its own long distance telecommunications network asking TD to invest approximately 5 billion francs (approximately $800 million U.S.) over the next three years. This investment will focus on establishing a high-capacity network that will support a comprehensive range of new services as well as a dedicated data transport network.
Ciena will partner with CS Telecom France for the installation of the DWDM systems in TD's network.
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.
Forward-looking statements in this release, including statements regarding the status of and beliefs, expectations and intentions regarding MultiWave Metro, 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 by such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's dependence on its major customers and their spending patterns, including specifically the impact on the Company's near term operating results of WorldCom's recently announced change in purchasing practices, the challenge of transitioning to the manufacture of multiple product lines in fiscal 1998, and the overall management of its expansion. The risks associated with the recently announced merger with Tellabs may also affect actual results. 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 May 21, 1998.
Nicole Anderson
Ciena Corporation
(877) 857 -7377
pr@ciena.com
Marie Downing
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243-6223
ir@ciena.com
