High-bandwidth terrestrial network extends reach, enables new carrier and enterprise services

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - March 11, 2015 - In order to accommodate increasing international bandwidth demand, the Middle East-Europe Terrestrial System (MEETS) is using Ciena's® converged packet optical networking solutions to give  regional and international carriers, as well as local and global ICT companies, access to high-capacity, scalable, wholesale network services to extend network reach, enable high-bandwidth enterprise and datacenter traffic, and facilitate LTE 4G mobile expansions. 

Key Facts:

  • MEETS, a network consortium made up of du, Vodafone, Zain, and Zajil , is a 100G terrestrial optical transport network (OTN) connecting key Gulf states - the UAE, Qatar, KSA Bahrain and Kuwait - and will ultimately connect the region to Europe. As the high-capacity fiber optic cable system is built alongside an existing power transmission network it is cost-effective and reliable, providing reduced service latency and geographic diversity across the Middle East. It also alleviates a potential capacity bottleneck on regional submarine cables.

  • With Ciena's 6500 packet-optical platform, equipped with 100G WaveLogic coherent optics and packet/OTN switching, MEETS can efficiently scale and interconnect large numbers of users. OneConnect Intelligent Control Plane creates a programmable network and provides the ability to customize service level guarantees with multiple levels of protection and restoration options. 

  • Ciena's OneControl unified management software allows MEETS to rapidly turn up services with full visibility across all layers and advanced service assurance applications ensure efficient troubleshooting.

  • The deployment is an example of Ciena's OPⁿ® network architecture for programmable and scalable network designs that enable dynamic network provisioning and opportunities to differentiate on-demand services.

Executive Comments: 

  • "The MEETS system will be essential in supporting the exceptional growth across the Middle East by enabling flexible and programmable international connections for on-demand end-user experiences. Highly reliable, critical connectivity and increased network diversity into Europe will also ensure the region continues to serve its millions of internet end-users."

Joint statement from Fahad Al Hassawi, Chief Commercial Officer, du; Sid Kohli, Senior Vice President Middle East & Asia Pacific, Vodafone Carrier Services;, Henri Kassab, Managing Director, Zain Group Wholesale and Roaming and Khalifa Al-Soulah, MD and CEO, Zajil Telecom 

  • "As global traffic continues to increase, Ciena ensures that carriers are equipped with resilient, scalable and programmable network platforms to handle growing demand while helping them generate a greater return on their network investments. With this deployment, MEETS is making sure that carriers and enterprises will be well positioned to facilitate growth and also quickly and easily introduce new services in the Middle East."

Ed McCormack, vice president and general manager of submarine systems at Ciena

Upcoming Events:

  • Ciena experts and representatives from MEETS will be at Capacity Middle East, March 10-12, 2015.

About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) 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. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with its OPn architecture for next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. For updates on Ciena news, follow us on Twitter @Ciena or on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/ciena. Investors are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website at www.ciena.com/investors, 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.

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 Ciena 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-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 19, 2014 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.

© Press Release 2015