TÉLÉCOM DÉVELOPPEMENT SELECTS CIENA FOR NETWORK CONNECTING MORE THAN 30 CITIES IN FRANCE
Paris — 06/20/2001Télécom Développement (TD), the French long-distance service provider, has extended its relationship with Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) as its supplier of optical transport systems to help increase the capacity of its long-haul network that spans 30 French cities.
A subsidiary of Groupe Cegetel, Télécom Développement is deploying Ciena's MultiWave CoreStream™ 96-channel, intelligent optical transport platform, which provides reliable, high-capacity network transmission for voice, data, Internet and video services over fiber-optic networks. TD's CoreStream deployments allow optical connections at 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps as network demands evolve. TD's selection of Ciena represents an expansion of the relationship that the two companies began in 1998, when TD first began to deploy Ciena's long-haul optical networking gear.
"After an extensive evaluation of leading optical equipment vendors, we have decided to continue our successful relationship with Ciena because of its proven ability to deliver market-leading solutions that provide compelling cost advantages," said Charles Rozmaryn, president of Télécom Développement. "As our business has continued to grow and our network needs expanded, we believe Ciena also has evolved from a niche supplier to a world-class network partner. We are building on our existing three-year relationship, during which we have found Ciena's delivery time, leading technology and quality of support to be of the highest level."
"We are very proud of our continuing relationship with TD and look forward to supporting its development as a major provider of advanced, high-bandwidth services across France," said Rafael de Ory, Ciena's managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Ciena's CoreStream is the only currently available intelligent optical transport system that combines long-haul and ultra long-haul capabilities in a single platform, thereby simplifying network architectures and streamlining operations. CoreStream utilizes a flexible design for global network topologies and the system's modular architecture allows incremental, in-service capacity upgrades. In addition, CoreStream simplifies service provider networks by eliminating the need for SDH/SONET regenerators, which add unwanted cost and complexity to the network.
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.
Télécom Développement (TD) designs, deploys and operates the only alternative long-distance nationwide digital telecommunications network in France, based for the most part on its own infrastructure. Its nationwide transmission network consisted of almost 18,000 km of optical cables at the end of 2000. It is organised in protected rings using synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) and WDM technology. The switching sites are located in the Paris and Lyon regions. TD is licensed both as a network operator and a provider of telephony services, using the prefix "7" for this purpose. TD's main products-switched minutes and leased lines - are offered to the public through Cegetel, which markets them to the general public and to businesses through the company Cegetel Fixe, in which TD has a 20% stake. The marketing of services to other operators is done directly by TD itself. All telecoms operators may call upon TD to carry their traffic within France or to other countries. Visit TD on the internet : http://www.telecom-dev.fr.
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, Télécom Développement's deployment of CoreStream systems, Ciena's belief that CoreStream is the only intelligent optical transport platform that combines long-haul and ultra long-haul capabilities in a single integrated platform, CoreStream's ability to simplify service provider networks by eliminating SONET/SDH regenerators, and 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 17, 2001. 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 Sophie Klein
Télécom Développement
(33 01 55 239337)
Marie Downing
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243-6223
ir@ciena.com
