Sunset Digital Upgrades Network with Ciena 100G Coherent Technology

Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN, news, filings), the network specialist, today announced that Sunset Digital, a leading provider of fiber-optic broadband connectivity, will use Ciena technology to transport  managed wavelengths at bandwidths up to 100 Gb/s for their service provider, enterprise and residential customers throughout northeast Tennessee. The enhanced network will provide  broadband service to the region while providing the necessary capacity for future growth, ensuring that emerging healthcare, government and commerce applications are available to Sunset customers throughout the Southeastern United States.

Key Facts:

• Sunset Digital constructed a state-of-the-art fiber optic network dedicated to providing broadband services to improve economic development and quality of life in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. The Sunset Network provides fast, reliable and affordable broadband access to homes, schools, emergency responders, government, financial organizations, and medical institutions.

• Sunset Digital is deploying Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with WaveLogic^™ coherent optical processors. This will provide robust backbone bandwidth for Sunset Digital’s transport customers, and also allow bandwidth to be used by local entities where it will connect 2,500 underserved homes, businesses and schools to high-speed Internet, video and voice services.

• Based on Ciena’s OPⁿ architecture, the 100G network will provide transport speeds up to 100 times faster than typical service available in the region today, which can help spur economic development by attracting high-tech businesses and facilities, such as data centers.

• This project is funded through a $24M award under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that is administered by the Rural Utility Service, a department of the United States Department of Agriculture. Sunset Digital’s complete network expansion is expected to be completed by 2015, if not sooner.

• Sunset Digital will also leverage Ciena’s advanced management solution for simplified low-touch service activation, which provides rapid service delivery, comprehensive service visualization and network monitoring.

Executive Comments: 

• “Demand for high-speed, high-capacity bandwidth services is increasing not only in large metropolitan areas, but also in rural areas like those served by Sunset Digital. Even those providers that do operate here cannot purchase the bandwidth they require at low enough cost. By providing greater broadband access to our customers, Ciena’s 100G coherent optical will help position us to better serve our community and help spur economic development in the region.”
  –   Paul Elswick, president, at Sunset Digital 

• “High-speed broadband connectivity has become critical to the economic health and development of any region by enabling advanced applications for healthcare, government and commerce. In building a 100G optical backbone now, Sunset Digital is helping less-urbanized areas of the Southeastern U.S. become immediately compatible with modern broadband commerce, and enabling them to grow seamlessly as technology changes and  the demand increases for even more bandwidth capacity.”
  –   Chad Whalen, vice president and general manager, North America field organization at Ciena 

Technology Background: 

• Ciena’s 100G solutions equipped with WaveLogic coherent optical processors scale the capacity and reach of existing networks with operational simplicity. 6500 systems also feature electronic dispersion compensation and comprehensive ROADM functionality, which combine with intelligent automation and OTN/packet switching to maximize both the bandwidth efficiency and flexibility of the overall network.

• The pioneer and market leader in coherent technology for optical transmission, Ciena offered the industry’s first commercially-available systems—with coherent 40G deployed since 2008 and coherent 100G since 2009.  To date, Ciena has shipped over 16,000 coherent 40G/100G line interfaces to more than 100 customers across the globe, with more than 15 million coherent kilometres deployed.

• Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform gives potential for exponential scale and provides better performance than traditional 10G systems over a wide range of fiber types.  The 6500 can operate over existing fiber and amplifier chains, reduces the need for regeneration, and enables scalability of up to 8.8 Terabits per second on a single fiber pair.

• Ciena’s  OPⁿ programmable network architecture leverages the company’s extensive heritage and expertise in packet and optical networking to create a programmable infrastructure with exponential scale on which applications run so that operators can deliver a high-value and superior user experience.

Supporting Resources:

• Coherent Application Note: Coherent Optical Processing for High-Capacity Networks
• Data Sheet: 6500 Packet-Optical Platform
• Video: What is Coherent Optical Networking?
• Ciena Insights: Proving that 100G is real today
• Whitepaper: OPⁿ Network Architecture

About Sunset Digital Communications
Started in 2003, Sunset envisioned and constructed a state-of-the- art fiber optic network dedicated to providing broadband services to improve economic development and quality of life in Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee, and beyond. The Sunset Network provides fast, reliable and affordable broadband access to multiple rural physical infrastructures from major metropolitan areas. Sunset specializes in bringing low-cost private and Internet connectivity to underserved areas. For more information, visit www.sunsetcom.net.

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 services and software 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-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 5, 2012. 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.

Jamie Moody
Ciena Corporation
(214) 995-8035
jmoody@ciena.com

Karen Jenkins
Sunset Digital Communications, Inc.
(423) 926-9494, ext.111
Press@sunsetcom.net

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