Windstream and Infinera Partnership Drives Windstream Carrier Solutions’ Leadership in the Wave Transport Market

LITTLE ROCK, AR and SUNNYVALE, CA–(Marketwired – Aug 12, 2015) – Windstream (NYSE:WIN, news, filings), a leading provider of advanced network communications, and Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN), provider of Intelligent Transport Networks, have been deploying the Infinera DTN-X platform as a part of Windstream’s network expansion strategy.

Windstream Carrier Solutions provides Wave transport services up to 100G across the United States, leveraging Windstream’s DWDM Long-Haul Core Network. Carriers, Content/Over the Top providers and other network operators utilize Windstream Carrier Solutions to provide fiber-based, high bandwidth transport services to support those companies’ growing traffic demands.

With the deployment of the Infinera Intelligent Transport Network™, Windstream has achieved the following milestones in its network expansion plans this year:

• 12 new 100G markets including: Buffalo, Denver, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa
• 3,900 additional fiber route miles featuring Infinera’s 500G super-channel technology
• 20 Day Express Install guarantee for customers leveraging the Long-Haul Core Network

During the remainder of 2015, Windstream plans to expand 100G service to seven additional markets, including Minneapolis and Louisville in September, and the addition of 5,600 route miles to the Long-Haul Core Network providing additional diverse routing options from major cities.

By end of year, Windstream Carrier Solutions plans to be able to provide carrier customers:

• Wave services from 1G to 100G spanning across 121,000 miles of fiber
• 100G service in 44 markets
• Standardized 10G pricing throughout its expansive regional and metro fiber networks in 33 states, available via Windstream’s Carrier Portal

“Carrier customers are increasingly looking to Windstream Carrier Solutions to meet their transport service needs. Windstream is uniquely positioned to provide long-haul and metro services in both Tier 1 and tertiary markets, often via diverse carrier routes,” said Joe Scattareggia, vice president of Sales for the Carrier and Content verticals at Windstream Carrier Solutions.”By deploying the Infinera Intelligent Transport Network, Windstream has significantly increased the capacity of its network infrastructure to meet the large data transport needs of its customers,” said Buddy Bayer, vice president of Transport Engineering for Windstream. “The Infinera DTN-X platform positions Windstream as a leading national provider of reliable, low-latency, 100G services.”

“Windstream’s selection of the DTN-X platform reinforces the value of the Infinera Intelligent Transport Network architecture,” said Bob Jandro, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales, Infinera. “It’s clear that in addition to the need for scale and efficiency, network operators value the ability to turn time into a competitive weapon by delivering the high capacity services their customers want, quickly and more reliably than their competitors.”

The Infinera DTN-X platform delivers capacity of 100G coherent transmission via 500G super-channels, with a forward-scale design to support terabit super-channels in the future. The high capacity super-channels are enabled by Infinera’s unique 500G photonic integrated circuits (PICs) developed and fabricated by Infinera – the only supplier delivering 500G of transmission capacity from a single line card today consuming minimal power and space.

About Infinera
Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) provides Intelligent Transport Networks for network operators, enabling reliable, easy to operate, high-capacity optical networks. Infinera leverages its unique large scale photonic integrated circuits to deliver innovative optical networking solutions for the most demanding network environments. Intelligent Transport Networks enable carriers, Cloud network operators, governments and enterprises to automate, converge and scale their datacenter, metro, long-haul and subsea optical networks. To learn more about Infinera visit www.infinera.com, follow us on Twitter @Infinera and read our latest blog posts at blog.infinera.com.

About Windstream
Windstream (NASDAQ: WIN), a FORTUNE 500 company, is a leading provider of carrier grade network communications, including long-haul and metro data transport services across 33 states, and local exchange access for Ethernet services. The company also provides enterprise voice and data solutions in major markets across the U. S. and offers broadband, phone and digital TV services to consumers primarily in rural areas. For more information, visit www.windstream.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements relating to the benefits of the features and functionality of Infinera’s products. These statements are not guarantees of results and should not be considered as an indication of future activity or future performance. Actual results may vary materially from these expectations as a result of various risks and uncertainties. Information about these risks and uncertainties, and other risks and uncertainties that affect Infinera’s business, is contained in the risk factors section and other sections of Infinera’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 27, 2015 as filed with the SEC on July 31, 2015, as well subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC. These reports are available on Infinera’s website at www.infinera.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Infinera assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements.