Infinera Introduces New Line System, Sets New Standard for Capacity

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - June 9, 2008) - Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) will introduce the ILS2, its next-generation optical line system at next week's NXTcomm08 trade show. The new line system, based on a new passive photonic integrated circuit (PIC) platform, represents a breakthrough in optical system design. It packs up to 160 DWDM (or dense wavelength division multiplexing) channels into the C-band, increases the optical reach of the system to 2500 kilometers, and enables greater capacity, with future scalability up to 8 Terabits/second (Tb/s) on a single fiber, supporting bandwidth growth and 10 Gigabit/second (Gb/s), 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s service delivery.

Improvements in Capacity and Density -- without Sacrificing Digital Ease of Use

The ILS2 system, which begins shipping this summer, employs a 25 Gigahertz (GHz) grid, twice the density of Infinera's previous line system. This allows transmission of 160 DWDM channels of light within the C-band. Extremely dense channel spacing is achieved by high-performance optical filters and multiplexers integrated into a new passive PIC designed by Infinera and manufactured at Infinera's Annapolis Junction, Maryland semiconductor fabrication facility. [See related news release: Infinera Unveils New Passive PIC Platform.]

Infinera believes that the ILS2 system is an ideal platform for network operators offering large volumes of 10G, 40G, and future 100G services. With Infinera's market-leading DTN line cards, the ILS2 delivers up to 1.6 Tb/s of optical capacity. Once Infinera introduces its next-generation line cards, the ILS2 system will deliver 160 DWDM channels each operating at 40 Gb/s, for total capacity of 6.4 Tb/s, entirely in the C-band. In an 8 Tb/s configuration, Infinera line cards will deliver 80 channels at 100 Gb/s each, for a new industry standard in optical capacity on a fiber.

All these configurations are designed to share Infinera's digital ease-of-use and flexibility. With Infinera PICs integrating ten DWDM channels on a pair of chips, Infinera systems turn up ten channels at a time, simplifying the installation and provisioning process, and making 160 channel systems easier to install and manage. Infinera's GMPLS-powered service intelligence makes it easy and cost-effective to turn up large volumes of capacity and manage large networks without a large staff of optics specialists. The flexibility of the system enables customers to mix and match PIC-based line cards of different capacities or operating at different wavelength data rates, and run these different wavelength rates over the same optical line system without significant reengineering. Moreover, upgrades from one line card to a higher capacity line card can be done in-service, simplifying engineering, minimizing downtime or revenue loss, and providing investment protection for customers operating existing Infinera systems. Infinera's Bandwidth Virtualization™ capability is designed to ensure that services can be provisioned across any network link, regardless of the optical parameters of the underlying wavelengths. An ILS2 network can deploy 10G, 40G, and future 100G services over the same infrastructure, quickly, flexibly, and without significant optical reengineering.

The ILS2 system also introduces optical express in Infinera networks, to enable service providers to optically express most traffic through locations where only a small fraction needs to be added or dropped. The introduction of optical express increases the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of the Infinera system for all kinds of network designs, including ultra-long-haul (ULH) express networks, consolidated core/collector networks, and metro core networks.

In addition to enhancements to capacity and flexibility, the ILS2 is designed to extend optical reach up to 2500 kilometers. Extended optical reach enables Infinera customers to achieve greater economies in networks with spans that traverse very long distances with no need to drop traffic. Extended reach also enables greater single-span distances, valuable for applications such as festoon networks or to enable hut-skipping. Extended optical reach is achieved with the introduction of Raman amplification modules as part of ILS2.

Raman amplification and passive PIC technology leverage technology acquired in two Infinera transactions made two years ago, the acquisition of Corvis Corporation's assets and the acquisition of Little Optics. In each case Infinera acquired highly differentiated technology, integrated it into the Infinera system and developed it further. The teams acquired in both acquisitions have now been combined in an Infinera center of excellence in Annapolis Junction, Maryland. Bringing the Raman amplification and passive PIC capabilities to market in the new ILS2 line system demonstrates the benefits of Infinera's strategy of highly focused acquisitions in support of specific product and technology goals.

The passive PICs, based on a technology platform acquired with Little Optics, enable the multiplexing and demultiplexing of 160 DWDM channels in the C-band and are designed to deliver other significant benefits including greater density, functionality, simplicity, reliability, and manufacturability. Like Infinera's active PIC platform, Infinera believes the passive PIC platform is designed to offer substantial opportunities to enhance functionality, density, and performance as integration increases in the years to come.

The new features and functionality in the ILS2 line system, which begins shipping this summer, build on the Infinera DTN's established record as one of the most advanced, innovative, powerful, and flexible digital ROADM and DWDM optical system for long-haul, regional, and metro core networks. The introduction of large-scale photonic integration in the Infinera DTN marked the first time that service providers could enjoy the benefits of the Digital Optical Network architecture, including simplicity of operations, speed of installation, rapid deployment of new services, integrated bandwidth management and transport, and the service intelligence of a GMPLS-powered network operating system. The very significant increase in capacity, combined with extended reach and the addition of optical express, should expand the ability of an Infinera network to meet the specialized needs of more customer networks and networking applications. ILS2 will be on display at NXTcomm08 in Las Vegas.

SAVVIS, Inc., a global leader in IT infrastructure services for business applications, will upgrade its California network to Infinera's new ILS2 line system, to take advantage of the scalability, extended optical reach, and other advanced features in ILS2. [See also today's related news release, SAVVIS® Expands ATN Network in California to Feature High Bandwidth, Optical Network Services from Infinera.]

"The relative lack of market investment earlier this decade is threatening to jeopardize DWDM systems' 13-year success in enabling exponential declines in capital expenditure per bit per kilometer of network backbone capacity. Luckily, Infinera is one vendor that has stepped up investment in innovation to put the market back on the road to exponential improvements," noted Dana Cooperson, VP Network Infrastructure at Ovum. "The ILS2, together with the 400G PIC announced in February, widens Infinera's addressable market and maps out the company's strategy for scaling DWDM to the next level of economical backbone capacity."

"Infinera systems have won a reputation for speed, simplicity, and flexibility," said Infinera CEO Jagdeep Singh. "The ILS2 system builds on those benefits with new industry benchmarks in terms of capacity, spectral density, and reach. With ILS2, Infinera plans to extend the benefits of Digital Optical Networks to more applications and more customers than ever before."

About Infinera

Infinera provides Digital Optical Networking systems to telecommunications carriers worldwide. Infinera's systems are unique in their use of a breakthrough semiconductor technology: the photonic integrated circuit (PIC). Infinera's systems and PIC technology are designed to provide optical networks with simpler and more flexible engineering and operations, faster time-to-service, and the ability to rapidly deliver differentiated services without reengineering their optical infrastructure. For more information, please visit www.infinera.com.

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 Infinera as of the date hereof; and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Infinera's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, such as scalability up to 8 Terabits/second (Tb/s), the availability of ILS2 this calendar year, our belief that the ILS2 system is an ideal platform for network operators offering large volumes of 10G, 40G, and in the future 100G services, that the ILS2 system in the future will deliver 160 DWDM channels each operating at 40 Gb/s, for total capacity of 6.4 Tb/s, entirely in the C-band and that in an 8Tb/s configuration, and Infinera line cards will deliver 80 channels at 100 Gb/s each. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipated," "believed," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include aggressive business tactics by our competitors, our dependence on a single product, our ability to protect our intellectual property, claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property, our manufacturing process is very complex, product performance problems we may encounter, our dependence on sole or limited source suppliers, our ability to respond to rapid technological changes, our ability to maintain effective internal controls, the ability of our contract manufacturers to perform as we expect, a new technology being developed that replaces the PIC as the dominant technology in optical networks, general political, economic and market conditions and events, including war, conflict or acts of terrorism; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 19, 2008, our public announcements and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we disclaim any obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Information: For further information Media: Jeff Ferry Infinera Tel. +1-408-572-5213 jferry@infinera.com Investors: Bob Blair Infinera Tel. +1-408-716-4879 bblair@infinera.com