CIENA EXPANDS PRESENCE IN BRAZIL WITH NEW OFFICE IN RIO DE JANEIRO, APPOINTS MARCELO SCHOUERI DE ABREU DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR BRAZILIAN OPERATIONS
RIO DE JANEIRO — 05/15/2001Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), a global leader in intelligent optical networking systems and software, today announced that it is expanding its commitment to the Brazilian market with the launch of a second office, which is located in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, Marcelo Schoueri de Abreu has been appointed to the newly created position of Director General for Ciena's Brazilian operations.
Mr. Abreu will be responsible for directing daily operations in Brazil, including the new Rio de Janeiro office as well as Ciena's existing operations based in São Paulo. He also will be charged with expanding Ciena's strategic business relationships with leading service providers in the region.
Prior to joining Ciena, Mr. Abreu was most recently country and general manager of Tellabs in Brazil, overseeing the build-out of more than 17 different networks in the region. He also was general manager and owner of MA/Datacom Engenharia de Comunicações Ltda., a telecommunications consulting and engineering company.
"The Latin American and the Brazilian market, in particular, are poised to benefit from Ciena's intelligent optical solutions, which have positioned us to lead the worldwide shift from legacy networks to cost-effective next-generation networks," said Arely Castellón, vice president and general manager of Ciena in Latin America. "Marcelo's 25 years of industry experience will strengthen our presence in the area as well as provide sound guidance as we continue our global expansion."
"Ciena's products clearly offer unique economic advantages to service providers by helping them manage capacity, switching, protection and provisioning through intelligence on the network," said Abreu. "I look forward helping the Brazilian telecommunications market transition to the new generation of networks and services as Ciena extends its leading-edge benefits to innovative service providers in this region."
A Brazilian citizen, Mr. Abreu received a bachelor's degree in telecommunications engineering from the Universidade Nuno Lisboa.
Ciena's Rio de Janeiro office is located at Praia de Botafogo, 501 - 2º Andar, Botafogo 22250-040.
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 www.ciena.com.
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 ability of Ciena's products to offer unique economic advantages to service providers by helping them manage capacity, switching, protection and provisioning through intelligence on the network, and the ability of Ciena to extend its leading-edge benefits to innovative service providers in the region, 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 February 15, 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
Marie Downing
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243-6223
ir@ciena.com
