ETC Deploys Ciena’s CN 4200 to Expand Network Capacity and Resiliency

Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN), the network specialist, today announced that ETC, a communications company serving residential and business customers in north Georgia, has deployed the CN 4200^® FlexSelect^® Advanced Services Platform to upgrade its backbone network with additional capacity, optical protection switching for resiliency against accidental fiber cuts and the ability to offer SONET, Ethernet, storage and digital video services via programmable ports.

ETC delivers a diverse portfolio of residential and business services, including broadband, cable TV, telephone, wireless phone and security systems. With the overall volume of network traffic increasing and business customers eager for higher bandwidth services, ETC’s existing OC-48 SONET network was nearing its capacity limit. Rather than incur the time, cost and community disruption of laying new fiber, ETC addressed its fiber exhaustion using a flexible, metro DWDM solution from Ciena. In one platform, CN 4200 provides ETC with a network solution that offers scalable capacity, high-availability and the ability to support multiple services.

"After reviewing all of our options, CIENA stood out based on its reputation in optical service delivery and innovative OTN and programmable port technology, which gives us the flexibility to aggregate, switch and transport a variety of services to meet different customer needs,” said Stacy Pettit, Network Operations Manager at ETC. "In addition, Ciena’s approach to integrating tunable 10G transponders with optical protection switching cost-effectively ensures our network resiliency, which is critical as we continue expanding to serve business customers with high-availability needs.”

Without disrupting an existing SONET service, ETC deployed Ciena’s CN 4200 to deliver 10 Gigabit Ethernet services to multiple sites for several business customers across a fiber constrained route on its network. The operator also ensures continuous service delivery with protection against accidental fiber cuts from local construction or unforeseen natural events by leveraging CN 4200’s optical protection switching capability with sub-50 millisecond failover capabilities. In addition, CN 4200 enables ETC to grow its network capacity and services without cost-prohibitive initial investment by adding new channels, OTN service transparency and mapping any service to any port.

"The need for more bandwidth and service continuity is universal – it’s not just a concern for operators and customers located in major metropolitan markets,” said Mike Aquino, senior vice president, global field operations at Ciena. "ETC’s deployment highlights the benefits of CN 4200’s innovative features and architecture, including upgrading the network without disrupting the existing SONET services, line cards that can be programmed to support different services to reduce sparing costs and the ability to add network capacity in increments.”

As part of its on-going effort to automate many of its service provisioning and network management tasks to maximize efficiency of its network operations team, ETC also deployed Ciena’s ON-Center^® Network and Service Management Suite. ON-Center includes advanced tools such as auto discovery of the network topology and deployed elements, service setup and teardown, statistics collection and analysis, configuration backup and restoration, and node level diagnostics and configuration control which enable efficient management of ETC’s network.

About ETC

ETC is a local, broadband, cable TV, telephone, wireless phones and security company serving north Georgia and the Copper Basin area. We offer affordable rates, unsurpassed expertise, local customer service and the most advanced communications products available today. With local and long distance telephone service, broadband access, cable television and security systems we can help you choose the right services for your needs.

About Ciena

Ciena specializes in practical network transition. We offer leading network infrastructure solutions, intelligent software and a comprehensive services practice to help our customers use their networks to fundamentally change the way they compete. With a global presence, Ciena leverages its heritage of practical innovation to deliver maximum performance and economic value in communications networks worldwide. 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 Investors

Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. 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. Forward-looking statements relating to the transaction described herein include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the transaction, including future financial and operating results, accretion to earnings per share arising from the transaction, integration costs, the expected amount and timing of cost savings and operating synergies, whether and when the transaction contemplated will be consummated, and the combined company's plans, expectations, objectives, and intentions. These statements are based on information available to Ciena as of the date hereof and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties associated with Ciena’s business, which include the risk factors disclosed in Ciena’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on December 22, 2009. Risks relating to the proposed transaction include, but are not limited to: the anticipated benefits and synergies of the proposed transaction may not be realized; the integration could be materially delayed or may be more costly or difficult than expected; and the proposed transaction may not be consummated. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.