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Technology Stocks : Ciena (CIEN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James Fulop who wrote (8903)	5/18/2000 4:36:00 PM
From: James Fulop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12623

CIENA Reports Second Quarter Revenue of $185.7 Million, Net Income of $0.12 per Diluted Share MultiWave CoreDirector?, CIENA'S Intelligent Optical Core Switch, Now in Seven Trials FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LINTHICUM, MD , May 18, 2000 ? CIENA Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today reported revenue of $185.7 million for its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2000. The results represent revenue growth of more than 20 percent over the Company's fiscal first quarter results of $152.2 million, and an increase of more than 66 percent as compared to the same period a year ago when the Company reported revenue of $111.5 million. Net income for the second quarter was $18.4 million, or $0.12 per diluted share. This compares with net income for the previous quarter of $9.1 million, or $0.06 per diluted share. For the same period in fiscal 1999, the Company reported net income of $0.5 million, exclusive of one-time charges, or breakeven, or $0.00 per diluted share. Consensus of First Call estimates for second quarter fiscal 2000 EPS was $0.10 per diluted share. "Increased customer demand for rapid delivery of CIENA's industry-leading optical networking equipment and our successful execution on deployment for new customers are the primary reasons behind our robust performance in the second quarter," said Patrick Nettles, CIENA's president and CEO. For the six months ended April 30, 2000, CIENA reported revenue of $337.9 million, an increase of approximately 60 percent over revenue of $211.9 million for the first half of 1999. For the first six months of 2000, net income totaled $27.5 million, or $0.18 per diluted share. This compares with a net loss of $1.4 million, exclusive of one-time charges, or a loss of $0.01 per diluted share for the same period in 1999.1 CIENA also announced that its MultiWave CoreDirector?, the industry's first intelligent optical core switch, is now in trials with a total of seven service providers. "Our CoreDirector trials are progressing well and indications from customers are that we've got considerable first-mover advantage in this exciting new space," said Nettles. CIENA disclosed that it already has received conditional commitments for CoreDirector purchases from two customers and expects to begin commercial shipments during its fiscal third quarter. During the quarter, CIENA began volume commercial shipments of its 10-gigabit per second feature set for its MultiWave CoreStream? long-distance optical transport product. CIENA's CoreStream platform is capable of mixed 2.5 and 10 gigabit per second transmission speeds, includes ultra-long haul transmission features and will scale to carry up to two terabits per second of traffic. CIENA continues to expand its customer base, recognizing revenue during the second quarter from a total of 22 optical networking customers, an increase of 69 percent over 13 revenue-generating customers in the same period a year ago. In addition to Qwest, CIENA's second quarter included revenue from another new customer which has yet to be announced. Commenting on CIENA's business outlook, Nettles said, "Our visibility into orders for the third quarter and the balance of the fiscal year is very good. In addition to substantial interest in CoreDirector, we're seeing growing demand for our long-distance transport and metropolitan optical networking equipment. We expect sales of these products to drive strong sequential revenue growth in both our fiscal third and fourth quarters." "Investment in our business is critical to capitalize on the prospects for strong continued growth," said Nettles. "In addition to scaling our optical manufacturing capacity over the next several quarters, we'll also look to extend our sales, installation and support capabilities worldwide. Provided we do not experience an increase in competitive pricing pressure, we expect earnings per share growth slightly above current consensus expectations for the third and fourth quarters," said Nettles. "Service providers worldwide are acknowledging the capital and operational savings associated with optical networking - but cost savings are only a part of the story. With products like CoreDirector, our recently announced CoreDirector CI?, the service enablers in our LightWorks ToolKit? and the optical network and service management capabilities provided by ON-Center? , CIENA delivers optical-layer network intelligence, enabling new revenue-generating, market-differentiating optical services," concluded Nettles. ciena.com