SAN JOSE, Calif. -- JDSU (Nasdaq: JDSU - News; TSX: JDU - News) today launched a new strategic initiative and expanded product portfolio to meet the growing demand for Agile Optical Networks (AON), one of the optical communications industry's fastest-growing segments. JDSU is partnering with communications equipment manufacturers worldwide to address this market with its new AON product family, the most comprehensive and innovative of its kind in the industry.

"The Agile Optical Network can deliver benefits such as greater service delivery flexibility and reduced network deployment risks, substantively changing the financial paradigm of new network rollouts," said Daryl Inniss, vice president, Communications Components, for Ovum-RHK. "The market for optical networking modules is rapidly transitioning from fixed to agile solutions -- the agile optical networking module penetration of the overall segment is expected to grow from 20 percent in 2004 to more than 60 percent in 2008."

The Agile Optical Network addresses the economic and competitive realities of today's communications industry, which is driven by the surge in IP-based triple-play and enterprise service deployment. An Agile Optical Network is a dynamically reconfigurable DWDM network designed to accelerate triple-play service deployment and enable advanced wavelength applications at significantly reduced cost. JDSU offers the industry's broadest portfolio of optical communications solutions required to build and maintain an Agile Optical Network.

"The widespread availability of affordable broadband and continued migration to all-IP networks have profoundly changed the way we communicate, creating new growth opportunities for our industry," said Kevin Kennedy, JDSU's chief executive officer. "The deployment of the AON is a strategic imperative for every network provider in the world planning to deploy triple-pay services."

JDSU (Nasdaq: JDSU; Toronto: JDU)