VTN and Ciena Complete Successful Coherent 100G Network Trial Across Vietnam

Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, and Vietnam Telecoms National (VTN), Vietnam’s largest service provider, today announced the successful completion of a next-generation 100 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) network trial on VTN’s backbone network, representing the first use of coherent 100G technology in Vietnam. The successful trial proves the operator can leverage its existing network assets to cost-effectively upgrade its nationwide core backbone network as bandwidth demands continue to increase, driven in large part by the aggregation of network traffic from across the country for voice, video, broadband, mobile services and large-scale provincial Carrier Ethernet networks.

The trial was conducted in February 2011, spanned 500 kilometers between the cities of Vinh and Danang, and follows the recent deployment of Ciena’s coherent 40G solution across VTN’s nationwide optical backbone. Using the ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, VTN was able to seamlessly add coherent 100G lines to its in-service network with no re-engineering of existing fiber routes or additional equipment required.

“The successful trial of coherent 100G technology on our network provides us with a seamless upgrade path from 10G and 40G to 100G to accommodate the growth of high-bandwidth services like IPTV, broadband Internet, 3G mobile traffic and Ethernet business services,” said Luong Manh Hoang, managing director of VTN. “With plans to more than double our network capacity during the next few years, Ciena’s solution provides a painless evolution path to 100G through the use of proven coherent optical technology and extensive field experience, giving us confidence that we can continue to grow the total capacity of our backbone network today and into the future as demand requires.”

“The ability of our ActivFlex 6500 to carry 10G, 40G and 100G wavelengths on a single shelf gives service providers like VTN tremendous flexibility for adding capacity to their network without disrupting existing services,” said Anthony McLachlan, vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific, Ciena. “Our unique coherent and electronic dispersion compensation technologies – where we have a two- and five-year development lead respectively – allow VTN to upgrade individual wavelengths to 100G with the simple addition of transponder cards while utilizing existing fiber assets and reducing operational cost and complexity.”

The pioneer in coherent technology for optical transmission, Ciena is also the market leader in this area, with more than 6,000 coherent 40G/100G line interfaces shipped to more than 75 customers across the globe, including deployments in eight countries across the Asia Pacific region. Ciena's ActivFlex 6500 platform, powered by Ciena’s WaveLogic^™ coherent optical processors, supports both 100G and 40G coherent transmission and is the first system to offer both commercially.

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. With focused innovation, Ciena brings together the reliability and capacity of optical networking with the flexibility and economics of Ethernet, unified by a software suite that delivers the industry’s leading network automation. 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-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 22, 2010. 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.