ADVA Optical Networking Strengthens Position in Southern Europe and Africa with Opening of Office in Rome, Italy


MARTINSFRIED/MUNICH, Germany and MAHWAH, New Jersey, Nov. 3, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- ADVA Optical Networking today announced the opening of an office in Rome, Italy, to serve as a base of ADVA's business development, sales, and service activities in southern Europe and Africa. ADVA is the leading provider of metro optical networking solutions in Europe and has had a sales team presence in southern Europe since 2000. Fastweb, Telecom Italia, and Telefonica are among ADVA's carrier customers in the region together with dozens of enterprises in the banking and insurance sectors as well as large conglomerates.

The company partners with leading telecommunications and storage distribution channels like Siemens and CNT and has penetrated Italy, Portugal, Spain, and South Africa. In Italy and Portugal, for example, major carriers have successfully deployed ADVA's Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) infrastructure solutions for relieving fiber exhaust and enabling "carrier's carrier" wholesale services. Spain has proven to be a particularly strong market for ADVA's systems for reliably supporting high-bandwidth enterprise Storage Area Networking (SAN) solutions.

"We see tremendous growth opportunities throughout the region, thanks largely to our established customer and partner relationships and the unmatched flexibility of our Fiber Service Platform product portfolio," said Marcello Forti, Director Sales for Southern Europe, Africa, and Latin America with ADVA. "Enterprises throughout Southern Europe and Africa are keenly interested in the storage and Ethernet access services that our solutions cost-effectively enable. Carriers are seeking ways to tap new revenues from their metro and regional infrastructures and particularly embracing new triple play and video services. The opening of the Rome office gives us a stronger local presence and ability to better serve and support our customers and partners."

ADVA's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) is a portfolio of optical networking products designed specifically for the delivery of high-speed services and network infrastructure in the metropolitan area. Key enterprise applications include business continuity, disaster recovery, local area network extension, and converged networking. Key carrier applications include managed Ethernet services, managed storage services, and network infrastructure. Employing leading technologies like Coarse and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM/DWDM) and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), the FSP systems enable up to 512 applications ranging from speeds of 8Mbit/s to 10Gbit/s to be transported over a single fiber pair up to 500 kilometers.

ADVA's Rome office is one of 12 globally that together employ more than 470 professionals. The new office is located at Parco di Villa Grazioli, Via Umberto Pavoni 44/12, I-00046 Grottaferrata, Italy. The main telephone number is +39 06 9412936.

ABOUT ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING

ADVA Optical Networking (FSE:ADV) is a leading global provider of optical networking solutions for rapid and cost-effective provisioning of high-speed data, storage, voice, and video services in the metropolitan area. ADVA's carrier-class Fiber Service Platform (FSP) product portfolio is explicitly designed to enhance services, simplify networks, and reduce the total cost of ownership. ADVA's solutions have been deployed at over 90 carriers and several thousand enterprises worldwide. ADVA's products are sold through an international network of blue-chip distribution partners in addition to its own direct sales force.

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CONTACT:

FOR PRESS AND INVESTORS: Alexa M. Schmidt t +49(0)89 89 0665 240 (Europe) t +1 201 258 8293 (U.S.) t +81 3 5408 5891 (Asia) investor-relations@advaoptical.com public-relations@advaoptical.com

PUBLISHED BY:

ADVA AG Optical Networking, Martinsried/Munich and Meiningen, Germany ADVA Optical Networking Inc., Mahwah/New Jersey, USA ADVA Optical Networking Corp., Tokyo, Japan www.advaoptical.com

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