Press Release

September 10, 2003 - Linthicum, MD and Pittsburgh, PA — CIENA® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), a leading global provider of innovative network solutions, today announced that the company has entered into a reseller agreement to market, sell and support Laurel Networks' flagship ST200™ Service Edge Router to service providers worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, CIENA also will integrate Laurel's ST200 into its LightWorks™ ON-Center® Management Suite.

Supporting CIENA's LightWorks Services portfolio strategy, the partnership between CIENA and Laurel further enhances CIENA's comprehensive set of network solutions designed to help service providers capitalize on data and traditional service markets with efficiency and profitability.

"Under this partnership, Laurel brings world-class edge routing to CIENA's LightWorks Services initiative," said Gary Smith, president and CEO of CIENA. "By building strategic partnerships with providers such as Laurel Networks, we continue to enhance our innovative solutions, automating and converging service-provider networks for profitable growth of existing and emerging services."

"Our partnership with CIENA is a critical part of Laurel's plan to rapidly grow market penetration in key global markets," said Atul Bansal, president and CEO of Laurel Networks. "CIENA has a strong portfolio, a great reputation in the industry, and an aggressive team committed to delivering data solutions."

Laurel's ST200 Service Edge Router further extends the reach of CIENA's LightWorks portfolio and complements CIENA's existing Layer 2 multiservice switching solutions with a Layer 3 implementation of IP/MPLS networking. With Laurel's ST200 in its portfolio, CIENA will be able to offer service providers an integrated solution that supports a variety of services over an efficient, unified MPLS infrastructure.

About the ST200 Service Edge Router
The flagship product of Laurel Networks, the ST200 Service Edge Router is the only router designed from the ground up with the features required at the edge of a service provider IP/MPLS backbone. The ST200 combines Internet-class routing, complete multi-service support, integrated service management and unprecedented architecture flexibility to support current and evolving service provider requirements - all at wire speed.

About CIENA
CIENA Corporation delivers innovative network solutions to the world's largest service providers, increasing the cost-efficiency of current services while enabling the creation of new carrier-class data services built upon the existing network infrastructure. Additional information about CIENA can be found at www.ciena.com.

About Laurel Networks
Laurel Networks is leading the creation of The New Service Delivery Architecture to enable profitable delivery of data and IP services at the edge of carrier IP/MPLS networks. Laurel's service edge routers and service management software are evolving carrier architectures from multiple data networks to a single packet-switched architecture with minimal capital investment. Combining carrier-class routing, data switching, advanced QoS and high availability, Laurel service edge routers support both routed and switched services. This unmatched service agility allows carriers to evolve their service portfolio to meet changing market requirements. Laurel Networks was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.laurelnetworks.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions of CIENA (the Company) that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release, including but not limited to the features and benefits of CIENA's products, 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 in such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business, which include the risk factors disclosed in the Company's Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 21, 2003. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Company'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. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

CIENA Corporation
Aaron Graham/Denny Bilter
877.857.7377
pr@ciena.com

Laurel Networks, Inc.
Kimberly Booth
412.809.4298
kbooth@laurelnetworks.com