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CIENA CORPORATION RECEIVES ISO 9001 CERTIFICATION

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today announced that it has achieved International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001 certification of its quality systems for the design, development, manufacturing, installation and servicing of its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system products. Certification was confirmed after completion of an extensive audit of the Company's quality practices by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI) Inc., an internationally recognized registrar for ISO certification.

"This is a very important milestone for Ciena," said Patrick Nettles, president and CEO of Ciena. "We have long viewed quality as a strategic imperative in our industry, and we believe ISO 9001 certification is recognized among our customer base, particularly in international markets, as a credible indicator of our commitment to quality products and services." ISO 9000 is a series of international standards for quality practices and procedures in design, development, manufacturing, installation and servicing of goods and services. ISO "9001" is generally considered to be the broadest and most difficult of the ISO 9000 certifications to achieve. Ciena was able to achieve the designation less than 12 months after it began preparing for it.

"Teamwork played a critical role in the accomplishment," said Michael Kelly, director of quality for Ciena. "The substantial cross-department collaboration required to achieve certification in such a short time was very beneficial to us, particularly during this period of rapid expansion of facilities and people. The Company has already achieved even better yields and has improved its process methodologies as a result of pursuing the ISO 9001 certification," he added.

Ciena Corporation is a worldwide market leader in the field deployment of open architecture DWDM systems for long distance telecommunications carriers. Ciena's family of DWDM solutions includes the MultiWave 1600, WaveWatcher, MultiWave Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer and the new MultiWave Sentry. These systems enable carriers to exploit fiber bandwidth, improve network reliability and enhance the ability of network operators to offer new broadband services. Ciena is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "CIEN." Additional information about the Company can be found on its World Wide Web site: http//www.Ciena.com.

NOTE: Forward-looking statements in this release are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's dependence on its major customers, the recent introduction of its products, and the overall management of its expansion. The forward-looking statements should be considered in the context of these and other risk factors disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.