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MOBILCOM SELECTS CIENA FOR INTELLIGENT OPTICAL TRANSPORT SYSTEMS THROUGHOUT GERMANY, SIGNS 3-YEAR EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today announced that German telecommunications carrier MobilCom AG is expanding the capacity of its network 40-fold using Ciena's MultiWave Sentry™ 4000 optical transport systems nationwide. MobilCom signed a three-year exclusive contract with Ciena for intelligent optical transport systems and placed an initial order valued at $8.6 million (US).

"By installing Ciena's optical technology throughout our network, we are laying a solid foundation for a simplified high-capacity infrastructure that can be scaled and managed easily," said Gerhard Schmid, CEO of MobilCom AG. "Because Ciena embeds intelligence across the optical network, we can simplify our network while increasing its capacity. We can also make network management and provisioning easier and faster. As a leading competitive carrier, these are advantages that allow us to cost-effectively deliver high-bandwidth services as demand continues to explode."

Schmid said MobilCom selected Ciena for its integrated, multi-service voice and data network because Ciena is able to deliver quickly a carrier-class system that it believes is the most intelligent, cost-effective and scalable system available. The MobilCom network will utilize SmartSpan™, Ciena's intelligent span management protocol for automated provisioning, reduced operational burden, and faster time-to-market for service delivery. SmartSpan is intelligence embedded across the network so Ciena systems know when and where new service is to be added, and therefore automatically adjust for faster provisioning at a lower cost.

Ciena's open optical systems also allow MobilCom to provide a variety of reliable services without the expensive SDH layer. As demand continues to grow, MobilCom can upgrade the MultiWave Sentry 4000 to Ciena's MultiWave CoreStream™, the industry's first optical transport platform capable of 96 channels at 2.5 gigabit transmission rate or 48 channels at 10 gigabits in its initial release.

"MobilCom has positioned itself very well in the German marketplace, as evidenced by the increasing customer demands placed on its network," said Guy S. Powell, Ciena's vice president for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. "By deploying Ciena's optical transport systems, MobilCom further strengthens its competitive advantages with a network that efficiently scales to support the ever increasing traffic volumes and allows for fast delivery of high-bandwidth services over a streamlined, easy-to-manage network."

Optical transport is a critical element in Ciena's LightWorks architecture, the foundation for a simpler, more cost-effective network. By providing intelligent, scalable products from the edge of the network to the core, Ciena is helping service providers break free of the complexities and expense of the legacy network infrastructure.