Company joins SURFnet and University of Amsterdam to demonstrate applications of high-speed and low-latency networks

Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, will showcase its converged packet optical innovations for the Research & Education community at the TERENA Networking Conference (TNC2013) taking place in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from June 3-6. Hosted by SURFnet, the Dutch National Research and Education Network, the event will feature Ciena’s 100G optical infrastructure as an integral part of providing the connectivity from TNC2013 to researchers around the world. Additionally, through several demonstrations, Ciena’s industry-leading technology will show how high-capacity networks, with photonic agility, will help researchers to connect and collaborate resulting in important scientific discoveries.

TNC2013 demonstrations:

  • Remote Human-Robot interaction
    TNC2013 participants will be able to control a robot arm with haptic feedback while simultaneously controlling an identical remote robot arm located at Poznań, Poland. This haptic robot arm from the University of Twente’s Virtual Reality Lab (VR Lab) is able to precisely follow and transmit movement, and can also process counter pressure. As a result, participants can play a real-time physical game of skills at the remote location.

    To provide participants with the needed visual feedback on their movements at the remote location, SURFnet and PSNC will provide innovative ultra high-definition video streams such as a live 4K UHD hologram and live 4K UHD 3D streams directly to the event venue. The huge amount of multiple 3G-SDI uncompressed video streams are transmitted and kept in sync using Ciena’s video multimedia transmission technology. This demonstration, based on Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, will utilize SURFnet’s ultra-low latency, high-capacity and high-speed network to enable users to interact with a demo set-up 2,000 km away as if they are physically present. Additionally, as part of this demonstration there will be a transatlantic retransmission of uncompressed 3D video from Maastricht to Ciena’s research and development lab in Ottawa, Canada.
  • Virtualization of Network Resources
    This demonstration, performed in collaboration with the System and Network Engineering research group of the University of Amsterdam, will show how the network adapts to support cloud computing. TNC2013 coincides with the launch of the newest addition to the University of Amsterdam research lab, an extended ExoGENI rack available for global collaboration on computing and networking research. In this demonstration, Ciena and the University of Amsterdam will showcase the capabilities of the rack, connected through one 10G connection on a 100G link based on Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform. The SNE ExoGENI rack contains eight Dell R620 servers, more than 6TB of storage, fully interconnected with OpenFlow 10G connections on a Dell 4810 switch. This switch will be connected with 2x40G uplink directly to NetherLight later this year.

Ciena’s TNC2013 Speaking Engagement:
Rodney Wilson, senior director of external research at Ciena, will present:

  • Intercontinental Bandwidth Methods - 100G Submarine systems for R&E, part of the Challenging long distance 100G session taking place on Wednesday, June 5 from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.
  • Additionally, Wilson is participating in the panel discussion ‘How can industry help NRENs in managing the change?’, taking place on Tuesday, June 4 from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.

About TERENA
The Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association - TERENA offers a forum to collaborate, innovate and share knowledge in order to foster the development of Internet technology, infrastructure and services to be used by the research and education community. The development and progress in Internet technology, infrastructure and services have been led by the research community since the very beginning of the Internet. Today, that community is still the main driver of the further development of the Internet. In Europe, this leading role is made possible by the collaboration of network engineers and managers from all over the region, facilitated and supported by TERENA. More information can be found at www.terena.org.

About SURFnet
SURFnet is the National Research & Education Network (NREN) organization in The Netherlands. SURFnet develops and provides innovative services for education and research and ensures that researchers, instructors, and students can work together simply and effectively with the aid of ICT. SURFnet links ICT services, scientific instruments, and people with reliable ICT infrastructures, made up of a network infrastructure and a collaboration infrastructure. SURFnet also demonstrates what is possible by developing and testing innovative ICT services. SURFnet is part of SURF, the Dutch higher education and research partnership for ICT. More information can be found at www.surfnet.nl/en/.

About the System and Network Engineering research group of the University of Amsterdam
The System and Network Engineering (SNE) Research group at the University of Amsterdam researches cross-domain interaction between eInfrastructure resource providers, optical and hybrid networking, resource descriptions using semantic web and programmable networks for the processing of Big Data in the Future Internet. In collaboration with SURFnet, UvA has capabilities to access high-speed optical test bed installations in the optical photonic backbone of SURFnet in the Netherlands and internationally in the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF). UvA maintains a state of the art Lambda Grid experimentation laboratory, which is very well connected to NetherLight. UvA is a founding member and key contributor to CineGrid, GLIF and OGF.

About Ciena
Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with OPn, its approach for building open next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

Note to Ciena Investors
Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 13, 2013. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise