HANOVER, Md. -- Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced that Shenandoah Telecommunications Company ("Shentel") (NASDAQ: SHEN), a leading regional U.S. telecommunications service provider, has deployed Ciena’s packet networking, unified management and Service Level Agreements (SLA) portal solutions to support its expanding Fiber-to-the-Tower (FTTT) and mobile backhaul services. Working with Ciena, Shentel has built a highly reliable and automated backhaul infrastructure to support its mobile operator customers’ transition to 4G wireless infrastructure across Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.

Shentel provides a broad range of diversified communications services to end-user customers and other communications providers via its high speed, state-of-the-art network. Shentel is a Sprint PCS affiliate and offers 4G LTE service to portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Shentel offers its business customers dedicated Ethernet Internet, Ethernet private line, Ethernet virtual private line, and tower collocation leasing. Shentel is leveraging Ciena’s 3930, 3931 and 3960 Service Delivery Switches – interconnected with G.8032 Ethernet rings to provide greater network scalability, resiliency and protection. Ciena’s OneControl Unified Management System provides Shentel with simplified low-touch service activation, which enables rapid service delivery, comprehensive service visualization and network diagnostics. This also gives Shentel and its customers the ability to monitor real-time network traffic and identify potential issues before they impact service delivery.

Ciena also announced that South African telecommunications operator BitCo selected Ciena to upgrade its network to provide high-performance, cost-effective and scalable carrier-class Ethernet managed bandwidth services for enterprise and wholesale mobile backhaul connectivity. Ciena worked with its BizConnect partner Adcomtec to provide BitCo a highly-reliable packet network architecture that supports the rapid turn-up of new services and predictable service delivery, using Ciena’s 3940 and 3920 Service Delivery Switches.

BitCo is a licensed telecommunications operator providing a one-stop connectivity solution that can be easily tailored to meet the requirements of local and regional enterprises, including PBX solutions, voice termination services and Carrier Ethernet based connectivity, as well as wholesale mobile backhaul services. Ciena’s MEF-certified packet networking solutions have been deployed in the Rustenburg and Bloemfontein regions and will also support other metropolitan areas, including Gauteng, Durban, Cape Town and Nelspruit.

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN)