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TYCOM SELECTS CIENA'S COREDIRECTOR, CORESTREAM FOR NEXT-GENERATION INTELLIGENT OPTICAL NETWORK

TyCom Chooses CIENA's CoreDirector Intelligent Optical Switching Systems, CoreStream Intelligent Optical Transport Systems for Deployment in TyCom Global Network

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today announced a comprehensive agreement with TyCom Ltd. (NYSE: TCM) for TyCom's purchase of Ciena's market-leading intelligent optical switching and transport systems for deployment in the TyCom Global Network. The two-year agreement, which covers TyCom's purchase of Ciena's MultiWave CoreDirector™ and MultiWave CoreStream™ systems, includes initial orders valued at more than $150 million. TyCom is building a next-generation undersea optical network that will ultimately span approximately 250,000 km and will connect all six inhabited continents.

With Ciena's CoreDirector intelligent optical switching systems and CoreStream intelligent optical transport systems, TyCom will be able to offer premium, highly customized optical services and significantly increase its network's capacity and cost efficiency. TyCom also is looking to use Ciena's systems as an intelligent platform for automated service provisioning, dynamic protection and restoration, integrated long-haul and ultra long-haul networking, and improved network utilization.

"Our decision to utilize Ciena's intelligent optical networking systems is driven by Ciena's leading edge technology and our continual push to provide greater value to TyCom's customers," said Neil Garvey, president and chief executive officer of TyCom. "The next-generation architecture of the TyCom Global Network will enable us to deliver superior, long-term business value and to provide services that cannot be offered over traditional legacy networks."

Ciena's CoreDirector is designed to enable immediate capital and operational savings by replacing racks of static network equipment with a single, highly scalable, software-based optical switch. A flexible, intelligent, self-aware network is created by connecting CoreDirector switches with Ciena's high-capacity CoreStream transport systems for long-haul and ultra long-haul applications. Because Ciena's CoreStream offers service providers a single, integrated platform that is designed for both long-haul and ultra long-haul transport applications, service providers are able to create efficiencies across the network and transport optical signals further without electrical regeneration, which further reduces network costs and complexity.

According to Patrick Nettles, Ciena's chairman and chief executive officer, Ciena's ability to deliver the market's leading intelligent optical switching systems, as well as a single transport platform capable of optimal performance in multiple distance applications, makes Ciena a model supplier for the TyCom Global Network.

"Major service providers such as TyCom are challenged to meet the demand for new, high-bandwidth services delivered at the lowest cost per bit," Nettles said. "TyCom's deployment of a worldwide undersea network that features a next-generation architecture illustrates that the fundamental shift from legacy networking to intelligent optical networking has begun on a global scale."

Phase one plans for TyCom, the industry's only fully integrated undersea network owner and supplier, call for deployment of Ciena's CoreDirector and CoreStream platforms in the Transatlantic and Northern Europe systems of the TyCom Global Network. These platforms provide the optical network intelligence and flexibility required to offer next-generation optical services and broadband capacity at all levels. Supporting TyCom's aggressive network build plans, which are proceeding on or ahead of schedule, initial deployments are expected to be placed into service on the Transatlantic system in July of this year.