LINTHICUM, Md. – Ciena Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced its FlexSelect™ Architecture, a practical, cost-effective approach to packet service migration that combines programmable hardware with service-oriented management to automate provisioning, transport and management of any mix of services, including SONET/SDH, Ethernet, video and storage. FlexSelect gives telco, cable, enterprise and government network operators a standards-based solution to evolve legacy transport networks at their own pace into fully-automated, service-selectable networks that can respond to customer requests on-demand.

“Leveraging our leadership in optical networking and control plane automation, FlexSelect is driven by customer demand and recognition of our specialist position in packet network integration and optimization for advanced services,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. “Ciena’s software-first approach to convergence with FlexSelect enables networking from a new perspective – the end customer – so it delivers the mix of applications they want today and can adapt over time without having to add new hardware, platforms or manually provision new services.”

In line with Ciena’s broadened product portfolio and application support, FlexSelect represents the evolution of Ciena’s LightWorks™ Architecture, which major service providers around the world have adopted to rapidly build core networks and manage them intelligently. FlexSelect extends the LightWorks value proposition by combining unparalleled hardware flexibility with software-driven service manageability. Today, new application requirements at the network edge, intense competition among service providers, and the economic need to strategically coordinate packet migration with evolving end-user demands are driving the need for an unprecedented level of network flexibility. FlexSelect is the only architecture that offers the flexibility, adaptability and manageability required for delivering a complete mix of services and speeds while driving down the total cost of network ownership through practical convergence techniques and automation.

"Based on our research, there is no consensus on when end users plan to migrate from SONET/SDH- to Ethernet-based services. Therefore, service providers are seeking flexible platforms on which to build converged networks that will fit their cost structures and operational models and let them migrate at their customers' pace," said Dana Cooperson, group director at RHK, Inc. "Approaches like Ciena’s FlexSelect Architecture, with software-defined line cards, point-n-click service provisioning and customer-focused management, provide a flexible, service-oriented foundation for efficient network evolution."

Global migration from TDM to packet services creates new demands on networks – they must be flexible enough to handle both TDM and packet services and speeds, but also be cost-effective and highly automated. FlexSelect offers a comprehensive architecture for delivering ‘any service, any where, any time’ – from network-wide service level management down to embedded software to control ports on line cards. The FlexSelect Architecture is comprised of three key components:

In a separate release:

LINTHICUM, Md. –- Ciena Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced the CN 4200™ FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform, the first multiservice transport and service aggregation platform to enable a flexible, cost-effective transition from TDM to service-selectable packet networks. With Ciena’s breakthrough FlexiPort technology, the CN 4200 is capable of supporting voice, data and video services on any port of any line card at any network location using completely remote service provisioning and management. The CN 4200 addresses multiple applications for telco and cable service provider, enterprise and government customers. Generally available today, the CN 4200 is already deployed in a carrier network and is in trials with other customers.

A key element of Ciena’s new FlexSelect™ Architecture (see related announcement: "Ciena Unveils FlexSelect Architecture”), the CN 4200 eliminates the cost and complexity of deploying and sparing service-specific line cards. Each port on the platform’s FlexiPort line card can be remotely programmed on-demand to support nearly any transport service including SONET/SDH, ESCON, Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Video and Optical Transport Unit (OTU) services at any speed up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). In addition, each port can be programmed to function as a transponder, muxponder, ADM, or cross connect, which provides an additional layer of flexibility and optimization of traffic on a wavelength. Ciena’s FlexiPort technology provides long-range investment protection by supporting current industry standards as well as new services and protocols as they come to market with simple downloadable upgrades. The CN 4200 also features Ciena’s FlexSelect OS, the industry’s most advanced control plane technology, to offer network automation and optimization that drives network efficiencies and OPEX reductions.

"The migration from TDM to packet services can potentially drive customer churn for service providers, so creating networks that can quickly adapt to changing service requirements and reduce service provisioning times is critical," said Sterling Perrin, research manager, Optical Networks, IDC. "Flexible, software-programmable multiservice cards – such as those offered in the Ciena CN 4200 – address service provider concerns about investment protection and cost reduction as they migrate toward more packet-based services."

As part of the FlexSelect Architecture, the CN 4200 maximizes network flexibility to create compelling service and economic advantages for customers. Pluggable or tunable DWDM and CWDM optics address a variety of transport applications and the platform can be deployed from a single line card and chassis for an enterprise location up to large central office locations with stackable scalability up to 400 Gbps per node. The CN 4200’s FlexSelect OS intelligent control plane improves customer satisfaction by automating the provisioning process and optimizing network utilization. Now when a network operator needs to provision a new service, FlexSelect OS knows the available network capacity and can automatically provision the service, allowing the network to adapt in real-time to changing service requirements to ensure full network utilization and drastically reduce time to revenue.

“The CN 4200 and broader FlexSelect Architecture shift the focus of networking from investing in service-specific equipment and manually provisioning networks to simply having one network that can be remotely programmed to handle multiple services on-demand,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. “The CN 4200 and FlexiPort technology are innovation milestones for Ciena and proof of our commitment to solving our customers’ real-world challenges by developing application-driven products.”

The CN 4200 offers FlexSelect Management features enabled by ON-Center, Ciena’s network management system, that combine point-and-click ease of use and network management automation with industry-leading customer and service management capabilities, including detailed service level agreements (SLAs), user-defined thresholds and sophisticated reporting. Based on an analysis of a service provider network, the CN 4200 can drastically reduce the cost of service delivery with faster service provisioning, optimal network utilization and lower sparing expenses, including:

The CN 4200 immediately supports the most critical services for the transition from TDM to packet networks, but additional services will be added and available to existing customers via software download. Ciena also plans to extend the CN 4200’s current sub-wavelength ROADM capabilities with “Dynamic Wavelength Routing” reconfigurable OADM technology for full 10G wavelength services, giving transport networks the utmost in flexibility. Further product information about the CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform and FlexSelect Architecture can be found on Ciena’s web site at www.ciena.com/FlexSelect.

Ciena Corp.