New scalable, high-speed network to substantially expand capacity for cable route that connects St. Croix, St. Lucia and Barbados

Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced that Global Caribbean Fiber (GCF), the main provider of network services across the Eastern Caribbean, has selected Ciena to upgrade its Antilles Crossing submarine network that connects St. Croix, St. Lucia and Barbados. With Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform powered by WaveLogic coherent optical processors and GeoMesh optical bypass, GCF is upgrading its submarine network to 40G coherent technology to satisfy customer demands for high-bandwidth services from surging Internet traffic and applications including video, cloud computing and business continuity/disaster recovery.

Key Facts:

  • GCF      was created in 2007, jointly owned by Group Loret (60 percent) and      Leucadia (40 percent). GCF is also the parent company of the Global      Caribbean Network (GCN), Middle Caribbean Network (MCN), Southern Caribbean      Fiber (SCF), and Antilles Crossing projects. All of the aforementioned GCF      systems are grouped under the GCF network.
  • The      GCF network is a fiber optic submarine cable system of about 3,000 km      providing 1.2 Tb/s capacity across 14 countries in the Eastern Caribbean.
  • GCF      selected Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical      Platform equipped with WaveLogic coherent optical processors and Submarine      Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE) for deployment on its 1,100 km Antilles      Crossing submarine network that connects the Eastern Caribbean islands of St.      Croix, St. Lucia, and Barbados.
  • The newly upgraded network scheduled to be operational in May 2013, will allow GCF to increase submarine bandwidth by four times using existing submarine cables, and enable the launch of 10 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) Ethernet services for wholesale services, other operators and local Internet service providers (ISPs). This upgrade will also use Ciena’s agile GeoMesh optical bypass, which will provide GCF with flexibility to add or drop select wavelengths at intermediate sites. In addition to reducing latency on the route, this gives GCF the ability to quickly react to changing traffic demands and increase network availability.
  • The      network upgrade will be managed by Ciena’s OneControl      Unified Management System, providing GCF with multi-layer      service management to enable streamlined service activation, robust fault      management and comprehensive performance monitoring, resulting in      efficient use of critical network assets and bandwidth optimization.
  • Ciena      is also providing GCF with a wide range of professional services for this      deployment via Ciena      Specialist Services for installation, integration, testing      and support.

Executive Comments:

  • “As a leading provider of telecommunications      infrastructure for the Eastern Caribbean, it is imperative that our      customers have access to a scalable, reliable network with low latency that      can compete anywhere in the world. Ciena’s coherent optical technology is      just what we needed to ensure end-to-end network performance across the      islands of St. Croix, St. Lucia and Barbados. By leveraging Ciena’s GeoMesh coherent transport and agile optical      bypass technology, we can ensure our customers have the bandwidth needed      to innovate and succeed in their respective markets.”
    -       Valéry Bijou, Chief Operations Officer, Global Caribbean Fiber
  • “By      leveraging Ciena’s GeoMesh capabilities, GCF      can re-use its fiber plant and carry four times the amount of traffic      capacity than it had previously, leveraging existing assets and avoiding      expensive alternatives. Along with the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, to      meet surging bandwidth demands, Ciena’s intelligent software will provide GCF’s      customers high-speed protected, reliable and flexible on-demand service delivery.”
    -   Ed McCormack, Vice President and General Manager, Submarine Systems, Ciena

Supporting resources:

About Global Caribbean FiberGlobal Caribbean Fiber provides the Caribbean Communications companies with wholesale inter-island and worldwide connectivity solutions. It is the most secure cost effective network of the Eastern Caribbean. The GCN network is a submarine cable system of about 3000 km providing 1.2 Tbits/s capacity serving 14 countries. For more information, visit http://www.globalcaribbean.net.

About CienaCiena 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 InvestorsForward-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-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 21, 2012. 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.