Sunbelt to Sell Ciena

LINTHICUM, Md. -- CIENA® Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN - News), a leading global provider of innovative network solutions, today announced that Sunbelt Telecommunications has joined CIENA's Solutions Alliance program as a value-added reseller (VAR). Sunbelt, a full service telecommunications equipment distributor, will sell and support CIENA's LightWorks(TM) Product Family to its nationwide carrier and enterprise customer base.

The partnership enables Sunbelt to offer its customers CIENA's broad product portfolio to help them deliver expanded network solutions for existing and emerging applications. CIENA's suite of advanced service-generating platforms enables Sunbelt to immediately assist its customers in meeting their communications network requirements. Sunbelt's demonstrated ability to deliver complete end-to-end network solutions enhances CIENA's capacity to meet the needs of service providers and large enterprises.

CIENA will join Sunbelt in exhibiting at the upcoming USTA Telecom '03 Conference (Booth #116) from October 11 - 15 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. The companies will showcase CIENA's MetroDirector K2(TM) and ONLINE Edge(TM) multiservice platforms.

"Our relationship with Sunbelt extends CIENA's market reach - notably in the independent telephone company and utility marketplaces - and further enables us to help service providers improve network economics by enhancing service profitability and network efficiency," said Francois Locoh-Donou, vice president of marketing at CIENA. "As a respected supplier with an established network of clients, Sunbelt brings to CIENA a new avenue for providing customers solutions that help capitalize on advanced data and traditional service markets."

CIENA's Solutions Alliance program is designed for partners that represent CIENA's optical and data networking products and services. The program is part of CIENA's collaborative efforts with third parties to develop and deliver expanded intelligent networking solutions to effectively meet the specific needs of carriers and enterprises with differentiated services and carrier-class reliability. CIENA provides its Solutions Alliance partners training and certification programs, sales and design tools, co-marketing programs, and a dedicated partner website.

Ciena Corp.