Sparkle Illuminates Its U.S.-Chile Submarine Cable with Ciena’s WaveLogic 5

Ciena’s industry-leading coherent optical technology boosts network ability to adapt to new demands

ROME & HANOVER, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top ten global operators, and Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), a networking systems, services and software company, announce the upgrade of Sparkle’s 10,476km next-generation fibers on the Curie submarine cable. Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e), the industry’s first 800G programmable solution, improves capacity and speed on the Chile to U.S. route.

By adopting WL5e, Sparkle’s fiber on Curie will be able to reach a total transmission capacity of up to 450Gbps per channel – which is two times faster than previously available technology. This will result in an ultimate capacity of up to 19Tbps and a 30 percent increase in the network’s ability, giving end-users the possibility to enjoy more HD video and cloud computing applications.

Sparkle will also have direct connectivity between data centers in the U.S. and Chile using Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme Submarine Network Solution powered by WL5e. In addition, through Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller, Sparkle will be provided with real-time intelligence and visibility to help its network proactively identify connectivity issues.

“Curie is a major addition for Sparkle, as it expands our American backbone with direct Chile to U.S. connectivity. WaveLogic 5 pushes the envelope and helps us execute on our network evolution plans to continue supporting next-generation applications that require endless bandwidth,” commented Enrico Bagnasco, Sparkle’s Chief Technology Officer.

“Ciena’s coherent optical innovations are the industry gold standard. With WaveLogic 5, Sparkle can boost network scalability and forge a path to support the digital economy,” added Fabio Medina, Ciena’s General Manager and Vice President of Sales in Latin America. “Sparkle’s upgraded network opens a new connectivity route to Chile and enables its customers to have faster, more reliable bandwidth as they stream content and use the cloud.”

About Sparkle

Sparkle is TIM Group’s fully owned Global Operator, first international service provider in Italy and among the top ten worldwide, with a proprietary backbone of around 540,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia. Leveraging its global IP, Data, Cloud, Data Center, Mobile Data and Voice Platforms, Sparkle offers a full range of ICT solutions to Internet Service Providers, OTTs, Media and Content Players, Application Service Providers, Fixed and Mobile operators as well as Multinational Enterprises. Its sales force is active worldwide and distributed over 34 countries.

Find out more about Sparkle following its Twitter and Linkedin profiles or visiting the website tisparkle.com.

About Ciena

Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking systems, services and software company. We provide solutions that help our customers create the Adaptive Network™ in response to the constantly changing demands of their end-users. By delivering best-in-class networking technology through high-touch consultative relationships, we build the world’s most agile networks with automation, openness and scale. For updates on Ciena, follow us on Twitter @Ciena, LinkedIn, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com.

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You are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, forecasts, information and assumptions. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those stated or implied, because of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in our most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies and can be identified by 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.

Contacts

Press Contacts:

Valentina Bardi

+39 06 368 78231

Sparkle

Sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

Shannon N. Booker

Ciena Corporation

+1 (410) 694-5761

pr@ciena.com

Investor Contact:

Gregg Lampf

Ciena Corporation

+1 (410) 694-5700

ir@ciena.com