BELLSOUTH AWARDS DWDM CONTRACT TO CIENA FOR LONG-HAUL INTEROFFICE FACILITY RELIEF

CIENA's MultiWave Sentry™ Initially Deployed In Five States

BellSouth today announced that it has contracted with Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) to supply the MultiWave Sentry™ dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical transport system for long-haul interoffice facility relief in its network. Initial deployments of Ciena's equipment, which started in January, already cover five states including Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Florida.

"Deploying Ciena's MultiWave Sentry provides immediate bandwidth relief in BellSouth's long-haul interoffice facilities (covering distances of 15 miles or more) and gives us a scalable, flexible platform for network growth and service delivery," said Dr. David Kettler, vice president - BellSouth Science and Technology.

Kettler indicated that BellSouth expects to deploy more Ciena DWDM systems during 1999 "in order to provide the increasing bandwidth requirements our customers demand while reducing capital outlays for fiber reinforcement." He also said DWDM technology enables BellSouth to reduce provisioning time associated with additional network capacity.

"While BellSouth's initial deployment of DWDM will be focused on opening bandwidth-constrained pipes, economic benefits and network scalability also are important features of Ciena's MultiWave Sentry," said George Peabody, managing director of telecommunications research at the Aberdeen Group. "Given its stringent testing process, BellSouth's choice sends a strong message to other RBOCs and CLECs about Ciena's performance and reliability. Down the line, Ciena's vision of an intelligent optical network and its LightWorks Initiative™ will have network-wide implications."

"As one of the first RBOC's to deploy optical transport, BellSouth is clearly running at the forefront," said Patrick Nettles, Ciena's president and chief executive officer. "Through its ability to simultaneously support multiple traffic types and transmission rates, Ciena's MultiWave Sentry maximizes the performance capabilities of BellSouth's existing network infrastructure and enables enhanced high-bandwidth service offerings required by customers."