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IXC Chooses CIENA Optical Transport for High-Speed Network First Carrier to Deploy CIENA Multiwave Equipment At OC-192 Transmission Rates

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today announced that IXC Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IIXC ) has chosen Ciena's MultiWave® Sentry(TM) dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical transport systems for deployment in its nationwide high-speed fiber optic network.

Ciena has received an initial order for $25 million and has begun shipping equipment for the carrier's Portland to Las Vegas high-speed data route.

``Ciena's DWDM solution is engineered with an open architecture which provides us with the capability to interface with multiple technologies,'' said Michael Guess, vice president of systems engineering for IXC. ``DWDM complements our advanced digital infrastructure giving us the flexibility and scalability required to address the changing needs of the Internet as the demand for bandwidth intensive applications continues to escalate.''

``IXC's deployment of Ciena's optical solutions into the core network will form the foundation of the current network as well as provide a platform for future enhancements as the network evolves,'' said Patrick Nettles, chief executive officer and president at Ciena Corporation. ``Our customers continue to be visionary leaders in creating architectures specifically for the Internet and data communications, which, in turn, is quite gratifying as our products are associated with the most capable new optical networks.''

The fiber optics being deployed in all stages of IXC's network development utilize state-of-the-art non-zero dispersion shifted fiber. IXC's fiber optic network supports the most advanced technology, including dense wave division multiplexing, which allows significant increases in the speed and volume of information carried across the network. The OC-192 equipped network is the foundation for Gemini2000, IXC's OC-48 next generation Internet backbone carrying both commercial and research community traffic. Gemini2000's unique architecture, incorporating packet over SONET technology, eliminates congestion and backlog by offering high-speed communications that are 100 to 1,000 times faster than today's Internet. IXC's network also supports ATM and frame relay technologies for advanced data services. IXC's four fiber BLSR (SONET ring technology) systems exceed 99.999% availability, and the network is monitored by one of the most modern computerized systems in the industry. The IXC network control center in Austin provides 24-hour, 7-day continuous self-diagnosis and early warning systems to detect and correct potential trouble before transmission integrity is affected. IXC has also developed a full range of innovative voice, Internet and data network services.