Ciena Selected to Connect New Forsythe Data Centers’ Chicago Facility

Ciena® (NYSE: CIEN) will provide its converged packet optical solutions to Forsythe Data Centers for the dual, diverse metro fiber network connecting its new Retail+® managed hosting facility, a high-density data center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., to 350 East Cermak in Chicago. With Ciena, Forsythe provides secure, low-latency connectivity, as well as access to the various carriers its clients require. This high-capacity, wire-speed encrypted connectivity allows Forsythe’s enterprise and other clients the world-class performance and strong culture of security they require in their data centers.

Key Facts:

• In May 2015, Forsythe will be opening a new client data center location offering 350 -4,000 sq. ft. secure, client-controllable private suites and micro-suites, as well as individual cabinets, in a new 221,000 sq. ft. facility that will help enterprises plan, procure, build, test, migrate, house, and manage their IT environments out of one location.
• Forsythe is deploying Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with FIPS certified layer 1 encryption for highly-secure end-to-end communications. With these high-capacity connections, enterprises will gain the full benefit of Forsythe’s data replication and transport services, which allow data to be stored virtually. Forsythe will be offering both temporary and dedicated connectivity options to enable customers to easily migrate data when relocating to the new data center.
• With Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 coherent optics, Forsythe Data Centers can provide the fastest connectivity speeds with support for up to 200 Gb/s of data transmission per wavelength. In addition, the 6500’s high-density, protocol-agnostic wire-speed encryption solution provides increased protection of critical data with minimal latency.
• Ciena is also providing Forsythe Data Centers its Specialist Services, including turnkey implementation, project management, and Management Services for Ciena equipment, to quickly provision services.
• Forsythe Technology, the parent company of Forsythe Data Centers, is also now a Ciena BizConnect partner, and will offer Ciena solutions as part of its full portfolio of offerings to clients, especially with regard to data migration services.

Executive Comments:

• “As we built this new data center facility with leading-edge technologies, we knew it was just as important to have the right connectivity in place to provide our customers with the secure dual, diverse fiber access and services they require. The deployment of Ciena’s converged packet optical solutions provides us with the low-latency, high-capacity connections to quickly provision the services our clients need.”
  - Steve Harris, Vice President of Data Center Development, Forsythe Data Centers
• “As enterprises move more of their application infrastructure into data centers and embrace the cloud, they look to hosting providers like Forsythe Data Centers to virtualize those resources and deliver the agile networking and data transmission capabilities as required. Our 6500 Packet-Optical Platform provides Forsythe and its clients with secure on-demand, high-bandwidth and low latency connectivity for cloud computing, storage and data center migration.”
  - Duncan Puller, Vice President of Data Center and Cloud, Ciena

Supporting Resources:

• Solution Overview: Datacenter Connect
• Data Sheet: 4x10G OTR with Encryption Module
• Analyst Report: Ovum Optical Data Center Interconnect
• Video: The Data Center of the Future is Here Today
• Printable Brochure: Forsythe Data Centers

About Forsythe

Founded in 1971, Forsythe is one of the largest, independent IT integrators in North America, serving approximately 1,000 U.S. and Canada-based companies. Clients come to Forsythe for help optimizing cost, managing risk, improving performance and enabling innovation within their IT and data center operations to deliver greater value to their business. Forsythe’s experience crosses all facets of the data center. Forsythe provides independent professional services and financial solutions, as well as IT products from all the leading IT infrastructure manufacturers and vendors, and related services. Forsythe is privately held and 100-percent employee-owned, with nearly 1,000 employees in 40 locations, and more than $1 billion in annual revenues. Forsythe Data Centers, Forsythe Hosting Solutions, Forsythe International Inc., Forsythe/McArthur Associates Inc., Forsythe Solutions Group Inc., Forsythe Technology Canada Inc., KillerIT, SOS Security and Synnefo Technology Solutions are wholly owned subsidiaries or divisions of Forsythe Technology Inc.

“Retail+®” is a registered trademark of Forsythe Data Centers, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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 http://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 the Company 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-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2015. 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.