RETN Selects Infinera for Russian Optical Network Upgrade

Further International Progress for Digital Optical Networks


SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 31, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- RETN, a leading Russian wholesale telecom carrier, has chosen the Infinera Digital Optical Networking system for the modernization and upgrade of its national backbone network, and for the construction of a new Pan-European transmission ring. The Infinera DTN system will enable RETN to increase total network capacity and provide its customers with a broad range of services including IP, MPLS, SDH and managed wavelength services.

RETN is a wholesale carrier specializing in connectivity within Russia and between major international traffic exchange points. The company provides data and IP-based services to more than 200 communication operators in Russia, Europe, North America, and Asia. The RETN network was founded in 2002 by a group of alternative carriers in Russia. Today the company has on-network locations in most of the major markets in Europe and the east coast of the U.S., including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, New York, Washington, Helsinki, Prague, Kiev, and Stockholm. In Russia RETN has sites in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Vladimir, Velikiy Novgorod, Tver, Yaroslavl, Tula, Lipeck, Belgorod and Voronezh.

"RETN is a fairly recent entry in the Russian wholesale carrier space, but we're now one of the most active players in the market." said Dmitry Samarin, RETN's General Director. "When the group of alternative operators set up RETN we knew that the key to successful IP services was to drive down the cost per bit. DWDM plays a key role in our business strategy, and we have been searching for a DWDM supplier who could offer us the price, quality, scalability and ease of operations we need. Infinera is that company."

"Amazing" Speed and Simplicity

RETN's business is about delivering high quality, competitive communications services to their customers. The underlying transmission network needs to be able to support those services without adding cost and complexity to the service provisioning process. RETN was pleasantly surprised at the ease of deployment and speed of new service activation with the Infinera equipment, made possible by Infinera's Bandwidth Virtualization.

"We decided to install the Infinera equipment ourselves - initially for the St. Petersburg to Helsinki route," said Maxim Syunikov, RETN's Technical Director. "Our technicians took the standard Infinera three-day training course and were able to install the new route, commission the equipment, and turn up the first services within one week. It's really quite amazing. No other optical transmission equipment could offer this combination of speed and simplicity."

"We are proud and excited to have RETN as our first carrier customer in Russia," said Scott Chandler, Infinera's Vice President of Worldwide Sales. "The Russian economy is fast becoming one of the great powerhouses of the 21st century and RETN is well-equipped to meet the need for fast, flexible communication services to support that economic growth."

RETN has ambitious plans for network expansion. The company is planning for three- to fourfold growth in network capacity over the next two years. That growth is expected to come from domestic services within Russia, as well as international services in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

About RETN

The RETN network was founded in 2002 by a group of alternative carriers in Russia. Since then it has expanded dramatically, with increases in capacity on existing routes, and many new national and international routes being introduced. Today the RETN network provides capacity and data transmission between many of the largest telecommunications nodes in the world. More than 200 Russian and international carriers and 700 corporate customers use RETN's network services. For more information, please visit www.retn.net.

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.

The Infinera logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3830

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 the benefits and capabilities of our products and the Digital Optical Network's architecture and that the DTN system will enable RETN to increase total network capacity and provide its customers with a broad range of services including IP, MPLS, SDH and managed wavelength services. 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.



            

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