Additional features provide greater network intelligence to enable agile, programmable and software-defined networks that are responsive to application needs Gary Smith, president and CEO, to deliver OFC plenary address ‘Net Positive: Why the Network Matters Again’

Ciena® Corporation (NYSE: CIEN), the network specialist, today unveiled WaveLogic Photonics, new line intelligence capabilities that significantly improve visibility, control and programmability of packet optical networks. Comprised of Ciena’s leading coherent optics, flexible optical line elements and embedded and discrete software tools, WaveLogic Photonics gives service providers the ability to leverage software programmability at greater scale to transform their network from a fixed asset that provides commodity connectivity to one that is automated for faster service responsiveness and differentiation.

Key Facts:

  • Powering      network transformation through convergence, WaveLogic      Photonics combines with adjustable packet and OTN traffic management      capabilities to enable a programmable, future-proof service platform. This      makes the network more dynamic and responsive to changing demands and      applications needs.
  • WaveLogic Photonics      accelerates service responsiveness while reducing the need for upfront      forecasting and traffic capacity planning. The capabilities include      flexible line elements such as programmable line amplifiers, Smart Raman      and customizable Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADMs)      configurations – from metro to core.
  • The next      step in Ciena’s OPn architecture evolution, WaveLogic Photonics builds upon the intelligence      already found in Ciena’s WaveLogic      coherent optics across the entire optical line system. Product enhancements include:
    • Expanded control plane capabilities – Ciena’s field-proven OneConnect Intelligent Control Plane, ranked number one in Infonetics’ latest Optical Equipment Vendor Leadership Survey, now includes additional distributed intelligence across the photonic and OTN layers. This ensures that operators can offer a broad selection of service level guarantees and new service offerings.
    • Smart Raman – Eliminating time consuming manual configuration steps as well as the potential damage to equipment and fiber that accompanies traditional Raman deployments, Ciena’s Smart Raman provides simple and automatic turn-up by autonomously testing and ensuring proper fiber conditions are met prior to self-activation. The ability to plug and play Raman into the network helps service providers optimize span and system designs and minimize the use of costly regenerators.
    • PinPoint™ – Ciena’s advanced fiber analytic software leverages Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) capabilities that are now integrated directly into the network elements to create a complete fiber loss profile – analogous to a CT scan of the network. This allows network operators to precisely localize and deal with potential trouble spots, reducing the risk of outages and accelerating repair times from days to hours. It creates the opportunity for proactive maintenance to improve network characteristics and also keeps track of historical information so administrators can remotely validate that installation, maintenance and repairs have been properly executed, which ensures the fiber plant is always conditioned for optimal system performance.

Industry Comments:

  • “Ciena built the foundation for WaveLogic Photonics over many years through its own coherent optics, unified management software, packet networking, intelligent switching and control plane solutions. Now they’re able to aggregate these functions with software to bring visibility, control and automation across the photonic and OTN layers of the network. This will allow service providers to operate and modify their networks more efficiently and quickly either through manual or software driven control.”
    -          Andrew Schmitt, Principal Analyst, Optical, Infonetics
  • “As      we prepare to scale our core network beyond 100G technology, it is      critical that we have the most efficient and highly scalable      infrastructure in place to meet the growing demand for content,      speed, cloud, and business services.  During our live Terabit field trial,      the Raman and PinPoint components of Ciena’s WaveLogic Photonics solution      were instrumental in helping us recover material decibels of system margin      and extend unregenerated signal reach for maximum performance.”
    -          Kevin McElearney, Senior Vice President Network Engineering, Comcast

Executive Comments:

  • “Wavelogic Photonics is another step in realizing our OPn network architecture vision, which is designed to make networks more responsive to business needs. As networks become strategic application-responsive assets, an intelligent, agile optical layer is vital to achieving the necessary flexibility to support changing network demands. WaveLogic Photonics enables network operators to reliably shift their operating model from just ‘configuring’ to actually ‘programming’ the network in real-time– increasing service velocity while eliminating the potential for manual errors and the cumbersome tracking processes that plague networking today. It also allows operators to easily view their network assets and program them to automatically respond to service requests and intelligently route packet services across the network.”
    -          Steve Alexander, Chief Technology Officer, Ciena

Ciena at OFC 2014 (Booth #3684, North Hall):

  • Ciena’s President and CEO Gary Smith will deliver a plenary session address on March 11 at 8 a.m. PT, where he will discuss the network ecosystem of tomorrow and how the industry can improve the user experience through convergence, programmability, openness, and software intelligence.
  • Ciena will showcase WaveLogic Photonics and a number of converged packet optical demonstrations at the event and also leverage its OPntestbed to show applications in development for multi-layer path computation, provisioning, dynamic pricing, and network utilization.

Supporting Resources:

About CienaCiena (NYSE: CIEN) 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 its OPn architecture for 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. For updates on Ciena news, follow us on Twitter @Ciena or on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/ciena. Investors are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website at www.ciena.com/investors, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use.

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-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 20, 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.