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CIENA ANNOUNCES SALE OF 11 MILLION SHARES OF COMMON STOCK AND $600 MILLION IN CONVERTIBLE NOTES

Ciena Corporation (CIEN), a leading provider of intelligent optical networking systems, today announced that it had completed the public offering of 11 million shares of Common Stock at a per share price of $83.50 and the sale of $600 million of 3.75% Convertible Notes due February 1, 2008. The notes will be convertible into shares of common stock of the Company at a conversion price of approximately $104.38 per share.

The Company also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,650,000 shares of Common Stock and up to an additional $90 million of 3.75% Convertible Notes to cover over-allotments. All of the securities were offered by Ciena and management of the Company did not sell any shares of Common Stock in the offerings.

The net proceeds from the offerings will be used to provide funds for Ciena's operations and for other general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures and potential acquisitions.

The offerings were managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Bank of America Securities LLC and Robertson Stephens.
A copy of the prospectus relating to the offerings can be obtained from Goldman Sachs & Co. 32 Old Slip, 21st Floor, New York, N.Y. 10005.