Ciena Unveils New Carrier Ethernet Solutions to Drive 4G Mobile Evolution

New switching options help service providers meet growing demand for wireless data services while reducing network complexity and lowering operating costs

LINTHICUM, Md. — 02/07/2011

Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN, news, filings), the network specialist, today announced the expansion of its Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery (CESD) portfolio with the addition of new switching products designed to address LTE backhaul networking requirements. Featuring flexible connectivity options and traffic-type awareness, the new platforms empower service providers to meet the rapidly growing demand for data services with speed, scalability and resiliency, while reducing network complexity and lowering operating costs.

Market Background
It is widely accepted that the proliferation of next-generation mobile devices and associated data applications is forcing network operators to invest in additional capacity and move to 4G technologies to accommodate growth and support new service demands. To do that, service providers are increasingly turning to high speed, low latency LTE technologies that improve network performance and lower operating costs while supporting the need for additional bandwidth all within their existing spectrum. As a result, however, operators are facing more pressure on the critical wireless backhaul portion of the network that ensures the traffic flows between cell towers and the terrestrial core network.

When planning the migration to 4G, service providers must ensure their backhaul networks contain these three design attributes:

• scalability to ensure rapid response to evolving bandwidth needs, partially driven by an increase of IP-connected devices.
• management to allocate capacity and prioritize different data traffic types to meet performance demands of a variety of end-users.
• quality of service control to optimize bandwidth availability and reliability and ensure timely application delivery – an increasingly complex task due to unpredictable traffic spikes from applications like streaming video or music and ongoing maintenance complexities.

Ciena’s Approach
By deploying Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet solutions for LTE wireless backhaul, wholesale capacity suppliers and mobile network operators can realize up to 30 percent savings in capital expenses and up to 80 percent reduction in turn-up times at a base stations as compared to alternative packet technologies¹.  Ciena’s portfolio offers a number of architectural advantages, including:

• sophisticated network resource provisioning and optimization to more efficiently control, manage and monetize unpredictable traffic over the network;
• MEF-compliant Carrier-Ethernet based infrastructure options for network access, coupled with scalable, converged optical Ethernet solutions to simplify transport in aggregation or metro core networks and configure the backhaul network to be transparent to the wireless layer’s IP protocols;
• a common service-aware operating system to address a multitude of backhaul scenarios – depending on the availability of fiber, the degree of multi-tenancy, and various generations of radio base stations – for greater cost and resource savings; and,
• state-of-the-art protection capabilities for detecting and recovering from network disruptions to ensure high network availability and seamless service delivery.

CESD Portfolio Expansion and Momentum
Ciena’s comprehensive CESD portfolio offers multiple Ethernet service delivery and aggregation switch products that are specifically designed to withstand the elements when placed in a variety of physical locations, such as the base of a cell tower or on top of a building. The newest additions to Ciena’s market-leading CESD portfolio – a series of cell site and business services demarcation and switching devices –are equally versatile, and enable carriers to employ sophisticated Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic management to achieve deterministic performance for service level guarantees, while featuring MEF-compliant interfaces, intelligent service-aware operating software, extensive Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) capabilities for fault and performance monitoring and on-board service assurance. These portfolio additions include:

• ActivEdge 3930 Service Delivery Switch: focused on supporting the transition to high-bandwidth applications requiring sophisticated QoS capabilities, the switch operates in an extended temperature range, offers a range of leading edge timing and synchronization options, and provides enhanced Ethernet service delivery through increased port capacity and automated traffic load-testing without the need for truck-rolls.

• ActivEdge 3931 Service Delivery Switch: offers the features of the ActivEdge 3930 in an environmentally-sealed enclosure to deliver Carrier Ethernet services in almost any environment in addition to flexible mounting options.

Ciena also announced a new CESD platform designed to create and deploy Ethernet business services with greater velocity, automation and customization, which is increasingly important as enterprise networks are challenged to deliver a larger solution set of complex, bandwidth-heavy applications and IT functions. The new platform is:

• ActivEdge 3916 Service Delivery Switch:  delivers low power consumption in an all GigE compact form factor and offers faster service troubleshooting and a virtual switching architecture for better customer isolation and overall network performance.

Ciena’s CESD portfolio is used by more than 130 carriers, wireless service providers and cable operators worldwide, with an installed base of nearly 35,000 at Ethernet-enabled cell sites specific to wireless backhaul.

Industry Comments

• “LTE will soon become the mobile industry technology standard for mobile devices and mobile broadband connectivity, adopted by most service providers worldwide over the next 5 to 10 years.  Mobile operators and backhaul transport providers are adopting IP/Ethernet backhaul as the technology choice to upgrade their existing transport networks. Operators look to Carrier Ethernet solutions that support multiple Ethernet service types, scalability, sophisticated OAM, fast deployment options, resiliency for service protection, efficient operations, and the usual requirement of cost effectiveness. Ciena has designed their Ethernet product portfolio to address these requirements.” – Michael Howard, principal analyst, Infonetics Research
• “Ciena is an established market leader in Carrier Ethernet, offering a broad portfolio that combines next-generation devices and intelligent software to consistently deliver a full range of Ethernet services. With these new platforms, we are even better positioned to transition operators to backhaul infrastructures that can efficiently and cost-effectively scale to meet the demands of 4G – which will be critical to the performance and success of next-generation mobile data services, devices and networks.” – Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Ciena Corporation

Supporting Resources

• White Paper:  Maximizing LTE Benefits Using True Carrier Ethernet Backhaul
• Application Note: Wireless Backhaul Network Solutions Enabled by Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery Portfolio
• Application Note: Delivering True Carrier Ethernet Business Services
• Data Sheet:  ActivEdge 3916 Service Delivery Switch
• Data Sheet :  ActivEdge 3930 Service Delivery Switch
• Data Sheet:  ActivEdge 3931 Service Delivery Switch
• Video: 4G LTE Wireless Backhaul
• Video: Ciena’s ActivEdge Portfolio for Wireless Backhaul
• Video: Introducing Ciena’s ActivEdge 3931

Investor Contacts:
Gregg Lampf
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243 6223
ir@ciena.com

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