SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Occam Networks Inc. (OTCBB: OCCM), a supplier of innovative Ethernet- and IP-based loop carrier equipment to telecommunications companies worldwide, today announced the signing of a strategic alliance with Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB), which opens up market opportunities with large North American Local Exchange Carriers for Occam's IP-based loop carrier equipment.

   "We are pleased and excited that Tellabs has selected Occam's Ethernet- and IP-based Broadband Loop Carrier products and technology to sell to some of North America's biggest carriers," said Bob Howard-Anderson, Occam president and CEO. "Our IP/Ethernet BLC 6000 family has already been adopted by 75 independent operators, including five of the top 30 largest in North America."

   Tellabs has licensed Occam's Ethernet transport technologies for integration into its Tellabs(R) FiberDirect(SM) portfolio. Occam gains access to Tellabs' cabinet products, enabling the company to provide new and existing IOC customers with more deployment options for delivering services over copper access networks and to evolve to packet-based fiber networks.

   "We believe the access network is poised for transformation over the next five years as service providers decide how to deliver high-bandwidth services such as triple play," said Matt Davis, director, Broadband Access Technologies of the Yankee Group. "It's clear that Ethernet and IP are expected to be key technologies in this transformation, and the market is now ready to accept these technologies as a cost-effective way to evolve the access network. Strategic relationships such as the Tellabs/Occam alliance make sense as broadband technology vendors seek to leverage any advantage they can to create a solution set that will allow them to take advantage of this quickly emerging opportunity. "

---In a separate release---

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Occam Networks Inc. (OTCBB: OCCM), a supplier of Ethernet- and IP-based loop carrier equipment to telecommunications companies, announced today that it has completed the private placement portion of its Series A-2 Preferred Stock Financing. On March 24, 2005, Occam issued 545,979 shares of Series A-2 Preferred Stock for cash proceeds of $4.925 million, and conversion of outstanding principal and interest under a promissory note totaling $534,790. The shares sold at the final closing were sold to existing venture capital investors and a new strategic investor.

   The Series A-2 Preferred Stock was sold for $10 per Series A-2 share, equivalent to the pricing of prior issuances of Series A-2 Preferred Stock between November 2003 and January 2005. The Common Stock equivalent price at which the shares were sold was $0.11 per share. Approximately 90.9 shares of Common Stock are issuable on conversion of each share of Series A-2 Preferred Stock. Since November 2003, Occam has sold approximately 3.3 million shares of Series A-2 Preferred Stock in private placement transactions, raising cash proceeds of approximately $32.8 million.

   The rights, privileges, and preferences of the Series A-2 Preferred Stock are described in Occam's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

   The Series A-2 Preferred Stock sold in connection with this financing, and the Common Stock issuable upon conversion thereof, have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws.

Occam Networks Inc.