Allstream Taps Ciena for National Broadband Network

TORONTO, Ontario & LINTHICUM, Md. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Allstream Inc., one of Canada's leading national communication solutions companies, and Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced the deployment of Ciena’s coherent optical technology in the operator’s 100G-capable national broadband network. The augmented network ensures Allstream can provide heightened network resiliency and performance with its scalable, high-bandwidth national network.

Key Facts:

• The enhanced national broadband network allows Allstream to deliver enhanced managed wavelength services to customers in high-capacity transaction environments such as data centers, financial institutions, and government services.
• Leveraging Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with WaveLogic^™ coherent optical processors, Allstream significantly increased its network capacity and resiliency throughout Canada—without adding significant cost and complexity to the network—to deliver bandwidth-intensive applications, such as IP-based collaboration tools, multimedia and social networking, advanced Internet services, remote data storage and videoconferencing.
• Allstream is also utilizing leading-edge network management software solutions from Ciena to ensure optimal network performance.
• A long-standing Ciena customer, Allstream is a designated Managed Service Provider (MSP) partner in Ciena’s BizConnect global partner program.

Executive Quotes:

• “Our customers are asking for higher speed wavelength services to facilitate data center connectivity, storage replication, cloud services and other bandwidth-intensive applications and services. By using Ciena’s industry-leading coherent optical technology, we’re able to cost-effectively provide the performance and resiliency our customers demand to ensure their critical applications have the scale and capacity needed for their day-to-day business activities.
  – Mike Strople, Chief Technology Officer at MTS Allstream

• “Demand for our high-capacity coherent DWDM solutions is growing exponentially as communications solutions providers around the globe seek to differentiate their application and service offerings to remain competitive. Allstream has built a reputation on its ability to deliver innovative business services that are reliable, cost-effective, and able to scale to meet customer needs, and our coherent optical technology ensures they are able to meet this demand with optimal performance.”
  – Chad Whalen, vice president and general manager, North America field organization at Ciena

Technology Leadership

• The pioneer and market leader in coherent technology for optical transmission, Ciena offered the industry’s first commercially-available systems – with coherent 40G deployed since 2008 and coherent 100G since 2009 – and has shipped in excess of 9,000 coherent 40G/100G line interfaces to approximately 100 customers across the globe with more than 9.0 million coherent kilometers deployed.
• Ciena provides a unique approach to coherent networking, offering more flexible architectures in addition to improving network economics. With its WaveLogic coherent optical processors, Ciena is increasing capacity throughput in existing networks to 100G today, with developments in place for achieving higher spectral efficiencies with several successful demonstrations of Terabit wavelength transmission, and is the first vendor to offer coherent-enabled colorless ROADM solutions.

Supporting Resources

• Application Note: Coherent Optical Processing for High-Capacity Networks
• White Paper: Key Technology Enablers of 100 Gb/s in Carrier Networks
• Video: Coherent Optical Processing

About Allstream

Allstream is a Canadian leader in IP communications and the only national provider that works exclusively with business customers of all sizes. For more information on Allstream services and solutions, please visit www.allstream.com.

Allstream is a division of MTS Allstream Inc. (“MTS Allstream”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. As one of Canada's leading national communication solutions companies, MTS Allstream provides innovative communications for the way Canadians want to live and work today. The Company has more than 100 years of experience, with 5,500 employees across Canada dedicated to a mission of delivering true value as seen through the eyes of our customers. MTS Allstream has nearly two million total customer connections spanning business customers across Canada and residential consumers throughout the province of Manitoba. The Company's extensive national broadband and fibre optic network spans almost 30,000 kilometres. Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.'s common shares are listed on Toronto Stock Exchange (trading symbol: MBT). Customers, stakeholders and investors who want to learn more about MTS Allstream are encouraged to visit: www.mtsallstream.com.

About Ciena

Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. With focused innovation, Ciena brings together the reliability and capacity of optical networking with the flexibility and economics of Ethernet, unified by a software suite that delivers the industry’s leading network automation. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

Note to Ciena Investors

Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 8, 2011. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.