Achieved annual revenue growth of 16%.

Expanded our global footprint with non-US customers contributing 35% of revenue.

Attained an annual overall GAAP gross margin of 50% with product gross margin of 53% and services gross margin of 28%.

Delivered GAAP income from operations of 2% of revenue and adjusted (non-GAAP) income from operations of 11% of revenue.

Generated $117.6 million cash from operations.

Ended the year with cash, cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments of $1.1 billion.

Fourth Quarter 2008 Customer and Product Highlights

Telecom Argentina selected the CN 4200® FlexSelect® Advanced Services Platform with G10 and G10X Ethernet Service Modules for an extensive network upgrade and expansion.

Sprint selected Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet platforms as one of the backhaul solutions for the operator’s 4G WiMAX network for XOHM™ wide area mobile broadband services.

XO Communications selected Ciena’s CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform to support the delivery of on-demand, high-bandwidth optical metro transport services and deployed Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery Switches throughout its metropolitan networks as part of the service provider’s new Ethernet Hub service.

Ciena announced new feature-rich enhancements to its Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery portfolio including the new CN 3911 Service Delivery Switch and the new CN 3920 Service Delivery Switch.

American Fiber Systems (AFS) deployed Ciena’s remotely programmable CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform to add managed and dedicated wavelength services to its service portfolio.

Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center deployed the CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform to optimize patient care through high-performance connectivity across its hospital and data center facilities in Connecticut.

AboveNet, Inc. and XO became among the first of Ciena’s BizConnect partners to be designated as Managed Services Provider partners.

Business Outlook

“Longer term, we believe that underlying capacity demands and our customers’ business need to transition to more efficient networks remain fundamental demand drivers for our business,” said Smith. “Our short-term visibility is limited, however, as the rapidly unfolding macroeconomic climate causes increased capex scrutiny among our customers.”

“While we expect the current, challenging environment will persist through 2009, our goal and our focus is to manage our business to be both profitable on an as-adjusted basis and cash-flow positive for the year,” said Smith. “At this time, our best estimate is that our fiscal first quarter 2009 revenue will be in a range of $170 million to $185 million.”

Live Web Broadcast of Unaudited Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2008 and Year-End Results

Ciena will host a discussion of its unaudited fiscal fourth quarter 2008 and year end results with investors and financial analysts today, Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern). The live broadcast of the discussion will be available via Ciena’s homepage at www.ciena.com. An archived version of the discussion will be available shortly following the conclusion of the live broadcast on the Investor Relations page of Ciena’s website at: http://www.ciena.com/investors.

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN)